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Post by Frenchie on Mar 28, 2009 1:48:32 GMT 1
Ok, Which one is me?
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Post by Frenchie on Mar 29, 2009 19:43:36 GMT 1
Ok, Blodders kicked my beer soaked memory for me on this one (Thanks Alf) It was 1974
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Post by tommo475 on Mar 30, 2009 7:49:56 GMT 1
Was King Billy from Fiji ?
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Post by Frenchie on Mar 30, 2009 12:09:32 GMT 1
Was King Billy from Fiji ? Navusolo Kiniviliame - King Billy - Joined the Army in 1961 in Fiji, where he lived (in Suva) up until that year. He died 28th March last year. Before he left the Army early in 74 I was proud to call him a friend. We had many good nights out in Hong Kong, especially his leaving do. That night he gave me of all things a puppy! Where the f$%*k he got that from I'll never know.
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Post by tommo475 on Mar 30, 2009 18:09:36 GMT 1
Did not know King Billy, but heard lots of storys about him during my time....He was something of a Kingo legend...went to his funeral with the lads from Ikra, was amazed at the number of ex Kingos that turned up....a good night was had by all.
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Post by Frenchie on Mar 30, 2009 19:52:45 GMT 1
I heard about the funeral but I couldn't get there through illness. To be honest I thought I would be getting ready for my own around that time. Luckily, things turned out OK in the end. (I say luckily but I did have to give up a few pretty important body parts ) I would have liked to have attended but what can you do. I'm sure Billy would have understood. BTW Billy was a legend even when he was serving!
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jimbo
Depot Sprog
Posts: 22
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Post by jimbo on Mar 31, 2009 14:08:20 GMT 1
I seem to remember 1/2 the company came back with a dose didn't they? including the padre
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Post by Frenchie on Mar 31, 2009 14:33:28 GMT 1
I seem to remember 1/2 the company came back with a dose didn't they? including the padre Absolutely true, though a lot blamed it on the order to 'Volunteer' to give blood at that bloody butchers station! Right Fijian girls war cry: "Nice Bulla"
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Post by Frenchie on May 22, 2009 18:50:19 GMT 1
After the six week Adventure training and exercise ended, A Company were set to travel back to HK on an RAF Britannia Passenger plane. After a bit of a ropey take off we were over the south Pacific when the pilot came over the intercom with a bit of news that most of us would rather have remained ignorant about to be honest. It turned out that the hydraulics had 'seized' the brakes on the main undercarriage. The aircraft captain decided that we might as well carry on to Townsville in Australia and see how it went on landing. So there we are, around 60 or so Kingo's all pretending that we don't give a F%$& about the danger. I had also just given up smoking - (in the days when you could still smoke on aeroplanes). I decided to have a fag, just for the sake of it. We were soon on our final approach at an RAAF base in Townsville and we knew it wasn't going to be pretty. It wasn't! As we touched down we could feel wheel after wheel exploding with a series of sharp cracks and we felt the aircraft shudder and slew about from side to side. There were more than a few white knuckles on those aluminium arm rests I can tell you. Luckily for us it seems that on both of those sets of four wheels on the main undercarriage there is a single free wheeler that has no brake assembly installed (So I am told) The last wheel to blow did so immediately after we came to a halt. I remember walking down the steps and looking at the shredded wheels and black rubber under the body of the aircraft and along the runway. What a wild ride. It got better from then on. We were the guests of the RAAF for a week while new wheels and parts where shipped out from the UK. The Aussies looked after us brilliantly. The food was out of this world compared to our army food, and the lads organised tours for us to keep us occupied - if we could move after stuffing ourselves in the American style food hall. Eventually a VC10 came in with the spare parts. That was an event in itself, as the Runway wasn't really long enough for that sort of Jet. It came along the runway with all engines screaming in reverse thrust but managed to stop just in time. Soon it was back to HK and dreary Army grub. All we had left was the dreams of steak and chips for breakfast and free soft drinks machines and fresh milk by the gallon out of a huge cold machine. Lucky buggers them Aussies.
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Post by johnterry on Sept 23, 2009 23:00:35 GMT 1
Hi ed, if the old grey matter is still working right, when we gave blood in Fiji we were expecting a bottle of fiji number 1 bitter and all we got was ice water for our troubles, by the way your the one standing upin the middle with hair! ;D
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