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Starting with Goode - the most helpful and co-operative of
company commanders - it had a store of interesting human material,
and during the four and a half years under Goode's very able
leadership, there was never any dearth of good Officers and
N.C.Os. Among them I must mention Driver, the Second
in Command, our crack shot and a very generous friend to B.H.Q.,
the efficient Beard, who later left the company to become
Second in Command to "B", Waldie, senior subaltern
of the battalion, the sturdy Geddes, genial Cross, and not
forgetting Harris, who became nearly a legendary figure and
whose exploits will be found in another part of this book.
Then there was Buck, their formidable C.S.M., Sergeant Hurley,
and a host of others, including Sergeant Craig. Speaking
of the last named, I may add that on his retirement through
poor health, he presented a magnificent cup and substantial
money prizes to be competed for by sections within the battalion.
I could spend a lot more time with "A", but I
must pass on to my old friends at "The Greylands".
From the beginning, "B" Company was stiff with
potential officers and N.C.Os. In fact, one is tempted to
call it the battalion O.C.T.U. when one remembers the number
commissioned from "B" and transferred to B.H.Q.
and elsewhere. In this way came about the migration
of Myers, Pitt, Thatcher, Moseley, Mills, Pepper, Kendall,
Chaplin, Murray, Fox, Dodd, and Hooper. A fair number
to lose from one company, but I must say that Athey
and, later, Yates always took the broader view and never
stood in the
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way of their advancement, although they were losing such good
men. There are two more names to be added to the list,
Naylor and Farrow, who transferred to the H.A.A. Bty. R.A.
What a tower of strength Athey was in the early days!
He was badly missed when he found it necessary to retire
from the Home Guard in February 1942, but he left behind
a tradition - "All the help in our power" - which
has been more than maintained by Yates who succeeded him
as Company Commander.
This glance at "B" would be incomplete if it
did not catch sight of Ralph, that lover of the Lewis and
devoted Welsh Fusilier, and John, the able and most helpful
Q.M., also of Richards, whose official appointment was Intelligence
Officer, but whose heart and soul seemed to be in Bombs
and Bangs if one judges by the very successful way he ran
his "school" at Mill Green, and Carr, who did
so much to help with his cinematograph apparatus.
I cannot leave "B" Company without mentioning
those who transferred to the H.A.A. Bty. I do not
believe that any one of them really wanted to go, but, like
their O.C., they also took the broader view and did their
appointed tasks.
I have touched on "C" Company in my introductory
notes, but without mentioning the names of those who contributed
to the success achieved by this company. Hume-Humphreys,
who assumed command when Trevor-Jones came to B.H.Q., was
a most efficient trainer of men, a master
(......continues.....)
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