"As The Sun Goes Down" - Aden, The SAA & Armed Police Mutinies of June 1967 (***RECOMMENDED)

[leigh kitchen]

"This shows me sitting on a roof guarding the Commissioner during the 3 day riots i know this as i have written it on the back".

[leigh kitchen]

"Me guarding the commissioner again with a sterling sub machine gun".

[leigh kitchen]

"The two lads are protecting the Commissioner".

"The commissioners building from a distance".

[leigh kitchen]

"Me looking down on the sand bags that we called check point Charlie in the riots". (See post no.144).

"The char wallah asking us what we wanted to eat and you would definatly get Aden gut".

Edited February 3, 2011 by leigh kitchen

[leigh kitchen]

"The sand bags were on the three day riots and where the guy fell into the soup in my earlier post". (See post no. 131).

[leigh kitchen]

"A route into Crater which looks like main pass as it was higher up and there was a part of a castle there that looked like a large turret and we were told that some of the terroist hid on top.

We were also told that the terrorist on there were killed by the back blast from the Hawker Hunters but i don't know whether it was ever confirmed.

I can confirm that the Planes were flying over head because i saw them".

"The route into crater. You can just see top right hand corner what we used to call kutchie huts there were lots of them all over made out of lino and tin anything the poor could get their hands on to shelter.

One day i was on minute section and it rained it's the only time i can remember it raining it poured down all day so that it washed a lot of them away and our lads went and helped them clean up.I wasn't allowed to go being on minute section.

Edited February 3, 2011 by leigh kitchen

[leigh kitchen]

"These are of Steamer point were it was safe for us to shop".

[leigh kitchen]

"A 250 fil note which was about 5shillings or 25p today".

[leigh kitchen]

"It's a granade lighter i was hoping no one would shoot him as he was posing and they didn't

"Me and Gilespie with a local".

[leigh kitchen]

"I have written on the back stating it's Halkot bay and were are waiting for the order to move out after the riots".

[leigh kitchen]

"A ferret car which was used quite often".

[leigh kitchen]

.

[leigh kitchen]

"Scenery, it was very beautiful but being in black and white it doesn't show it".

[leigh kitchen]

"i think these are of Wadi North in Makarious.We had to spend three weeks on the border we flew up there in Beverly planes they had scorpions painted on the back end so i guess it was called scorpion squadron".

[leigh kitchen]

"There was an Arab army camp living in tents and ours was next door same thing living in tents.

There was a big battle one night we were there as the town was just a few hundred yards away.But it didn't concern us or the Arab army".

Edited February 2, 2011 by leigh kitchen

[amunastra]

"There was an Arab army camp living in tents and ours was next door same thing living in tents.

There was a big battle one night we were there as the town was just a few hundred yards away.But it didn't concern us or the Arab army".

Z Company had to spend 3 weeks living in a tent encampment on the Yemen border.We flew up there in Beverly transport planes.We sat on wooden benches and the side door was open and i sat opposite it.When the plane banked going between hills i suppose it's the only time i ever felt air sick ,looking out of the door it was a strange feeling.The planes had black scorpions painted on them.When we got to the camp there was an Arab army tent encampment next door.The town was a few hundred yards away but clearly visable from our camp.We were allowed to go to the town on one condition and that was we had to sling our SLR's over our shoulders.It's the first time i have ever known or seen a British Soldier using his sling as it was never allowed.I wonder if anyone else has seen that.It was to show a sign of non aggression as the town was occupied by the most magnificently dressed and armed men.I took loads of photos but to my dissapointment the place i took them to be developed said there was only a couple that turned out and they were of scenery.It took me ages to caojole the locals to have their pictures taken.If you can picture this they had turbans then jackets fairly western looking then their traditonal skirts.Then over each shoulder would be bandoleers or some would have pouches.Then in there waist band was one or two curved daggers.Their bolt action rifle would also be slung over their shoulder.They looked amazing.We went out on patrol each night to set up ambushes.We would set up chain grenades 5 or 6 mills 36's in a line.We would split into two groups and occupy a hill on either side.We never caught anyone,they probably knew we were there but i'm not sure.I remember walking in the red hot desert and coming upon a little valley and it was like paradise water, trees, flowers and lush green grass.Then within a few minutes we were out of it and back to the sand.One night the town was attacked all hell broke loose as a local group had a beef with the leader in the town .We were told they rode in on horse back to shoot the place up but we couldn't see that as it was just a bit to far from us,there was bullets flying everywhere.There was only one causualty in the two camps and that was next door in the Arab army camp one of the soldiers was that busy watching the battle he fell down their water well and died.He came back to Kormaksar on my plane laying on a stretcher covered in a blanket.I saw his foot start twitching and told someone in authority but they didn't seem to bother i do hope he wasn't buried alive.I have never seen so many disabled people as i did in Crater but i suppose if they broke a leg or arm they had no one to set it for them and they were always begging on the streets.We were told that some parents break the childrens limbs so they could go on the streets to beg but i maybe it was just hearsay.

[leigh kitchen]

Very interesting posts from amunastra, full of information & told in a straightforward way rather than with words chosen carefully for dramatic effect - his descriptions of events he was involved in are dramatic enough and it's great to have them in an original form.

This website has a number of ITN news bulletins concerning Aden in 1967 (clips they can be viewed free although they are for sale at £299 a time).

The 1st Bn. Royal Northumberland Fusiliers feature in some of them.

There are more clips, search on "Aden", "Aden 1967" etc.

http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist/BHC_ITN/1967/03/08/X08036701/?s=*

ITN Reporting 67: Aden Terrorism: British Troops

Story:Report outlines the political background to the violence in Aden and shows how conditions for British soldiers and their families are becoming increasingly dangerous.

'Reporting 67' was a series of documentary reports from around the world, produced by ITN News and broadcast on ITV during 1967. Black and White B/W material.

Clip No. 1

ADEN:

British Forces Broadcasting Service announcer in radio studio reads 'Security Bulletin Number 10' announcement about military events in Aden SOT/ British Forces Broadcasting Service sign on building exterior and vehicle/ British soldier guarding fenced compound of British Forces Broadcasting Service radio station

British troops (wearing gas masks) confront chanting crowd of nationalists in street - crowds disperse as troops fire gas cannisters at demonstrators (Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen - FLOSY)/ demonstrators carry large photograph of FLOSY leader Abdul Mackawee/ crowds carry coffin through streets (funeral of one of Mackawee's sons, murdered by rival nationalist group)/ Rival Nationalist and FLOSY supporters clash in street - crowd beat dead body with sticks

Clip No. 2

AIR VIEW - AERIAL Aden skyline with mountains in distance/ GRAPHIC showing map of Aden/ AIR VIEW oil refinery/ various of BP oil refinery - BP sign on perimeter fence

People in Crater City street listening to transistor radio broadcasting from Yemen/ graffiti on road - 'Death For Britishers', 'Go Back to Your Country'/ British troops (Royal Northumberland Fusiliers) patrolling on streets/ British troops seaching men in back street/ British troops along in tanks past South Arbaian League headquarters building (taken over by British forces after internal fighting)

Clip No. 3

Major Paddy Baxter (Royal Northumberland Fusiliers Commanding Officer) interview SOT - CUTAWAYS of British Troops watching streets from rooftops

Clip No. 4

Children of British servicemen boarding school bus (guarded by British soldiers)/ various of school bus along with armed military police escort - British schoolchildren on bus as along/ schoolchildren off buses and into school/ Schoolteacher instructing class of British schoolchildren that they must not pick up anything in street

British soldiers patrolling on main street ('Malar Strait' - where two Britih women killed in bomb explosion the previous week)/ British forces families and children stand on balconies of their apartments looking into street/ local NAAFI grocery shop - 'wanted for murder' sign and photograph on door of bombing suspect

Clip No. 5

People shopping in NAAFI grocery store/ NAAFI Manager interview SOT - discusses recent violence/ Vox pops - British soldiers' wives

British servicemen and their families sunbathing and playing on beach - beach surrounded by barbed wire fencing and patrolled by armed soldiers

Clip No. 6

Flosy graffiti on walls in street/ National Liberation Front (NLF) graffiti on wall

Ali Aswadi (Aden TUC President) interview SOT

Clip No 7

Said Sobi (Minister in former Abdul Mackawee government) interview SOT

Grave of Eileen Ruth Wilkes (wife of British intelligence officer killed in bomb explosion) in Silent Valley cemetery/ various of British graves in Silent Valley Cemetery/ Union Jack flying from cemetery falgpole

British Forces Broadcasting Service announcer in radio studio reads announcement about military events in Aden SOT

British soldiers on patrol in Aden streets/ soldiers searching local people/ Armed forces apartments/ soldiers on patrol in military jeep

More clips here:

http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//BHC_ITN/1966/08/31/X31086601/?s=aden&st=0&pn=1

A clip of RNF patrols:

http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//ITN/1967/02/13/FS130267007/?s=aden+1967&st=0&pn=1

Edited March 2, 2011 by leigh kitchen

[amunastra]

Very interesting posts from amunastra, full of information & told in a straightforward way rather than with words chosen carefully for dramatic effect - his descriptions of events he was involved in are dramatic enough and it's great to have them in an original form.

This website has a number of ITN news bulletins concerning Aden in 1967 (clips they can be viewed free although they are for sale at £299 a time).

The 1st Bn. Royal Northumberland Fusiliers feature in some of them.

There are more clips, search on "Aden", "Aden 1967" etc.

http://www.itnsource.../X08036701/?s=*

ITN Reporting 67: Aden Terrorism: British Troops

Story:Report outlines the political background to the violence in Aden and shows how conditions for British soldiers and their families are becoming increasingly dangerous.

'Reporting 67' was a series of documentary reports from around the world, produced by ITN News and broadcast on ITV during 1967. Black and White B/W material.

Clip No. 1

ADEN:

British Forces Broadcasting Service announcer in radio studio reads 'Security Bulletin Number 10' announcement about military events in Aden SOT/ British Forces Broadcasting Service sign on building exterior and vehicle/ British soldier guarding fenced compound of British Forces Broadcasting Service radio station

British troops (wearing gas masks) confront chanting crowd of nationalists in street - crowds disperse as troops fire gas cannisters at demonstrators (Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen - FLOSY)/ demonstrators carry large photograph of FLOSY leader Abdul Mackawee/ crowds carry coffin through streets (funeral of one of Mackawee's sons, murdered by rival nationalist group)/ Rival Nationalist and FLOSY supporters clash in street - crowd beat dead body with sticks

Clip No. 2

AIR VIEW - AERIAL Aden skyline with mountains in distance/ GRAPHIC showing map of Aden/ AIR VIEW oil refinery/ various of BP oil refinery - BP sign on perimeter fence

People in Crater City street listening to transistor radio broadcasting from Yemen/ graffiti on road - 'Death For Britishers', 'Go Back to Your Country'/ British troops (Royal Northumberland Fusiliers) patrolling on streets/ British troops seaching men in back street/ British troops along in tanks past South Arbaian League headquarters building (taken over by British forces after internal fighting)

Clip No. 3

Major Paddy Baxter (Royal Northumberland Fusiliers Commanding Officer) interview SOT - CUTAWAYS of British Troops watching streets from rooftops

Clip No. 4

Children of British servicemen boarding school bus (guarded by British soldiers)/ various of school bus along with armed military police escort - British schoolchildren on bus as along/ schoolchildren off buses and into school/ Schoolteacher instructing class of British schoolchildren that they must not pick up anything in street

British soldiers patrolling on main street ('Malar Strait' - where two Britih women killed in bomb explosion the previous week)/ British forces families and children stand on balconies of their apartments looking into street/ local NAAFI grocery shop - 'wanted for murder' sign and photograph on door of bombing suspect

Clip No. 5

People shopping in NAAFI grocery store/ NAAFI Manager interview SOT - discusses recent violence/ Vox pops - British soldiers' wives

British servicemen and their families sunbathing and playing on beach - beach surrounded by barbed wire fencing and patrolled by armed soldiers

Clip No. 6

Flosy graffiti on walls in street/ National Liberation Front (NLF) graffiti on wall

Ali Aswadi (Aden TUC President) interview SOT

Clip No 7

Said Sobi (Minister in former Abdul Mackawee government) interview SOT

Grave of Eileen Ruth Wilkes (wife of British intelligence officer killed in bomb explosion) in Silent Valley cemetery/ various of British graves in Silent Valley Cemetery/ Union Jack flying from cemetery falgpole

British Forces Broadcasting Service announcer in radio studio reads announcement about military events in Aden SOT

British soldiers on patrol in Aden streets/ soldiers searching local people/ Armed forces apartments/ soldiers on patrol in military jeep

More clips here:

http://www.itnsource...=aden&st=0&pn=1

A clip of RNF patrols:

http://www.itnsource...+1967&st=0&pn=1

Thanks Leigh i shall check out all the sights.The cemetary i saw couldn't have been Silent Valley as the gravestones were not in any order,there were a few British graves and they were scatered about but i can't remember were i was at the time.I do remember Command Hill which no one ever seems to quote on.1 RNF had to guard it.The C.I.C.was Admiral Sir Michael Le Fan U (not sure how to spell his name). Then there was a General and an Air Vice Marshall.I remember the Admirals name, as i was approached by him when on duty at the front post.He asked me if i would like to be his body guard,as i was told not to speak and i hadn't long been there i didn't answer,although he asked me three times,my friend Pete Million was already assigned.The Admiral liked to go for walks in the hills unarmed.(The hills were full of caves and full of curiosity but i never ventured into them, there were so many barren places to walk).So Pete would carry a browning 9mm side arm to accompany him.I wish i had been more forthcoming as i would have liked to have had a try.I have fired a Browning 9mm many times and out of all the weapons i have fired when you have one strapped to your side it makes you feel very comfortable and powerful.If you were smart you were posted at the front under a shade with a Cpl on the opposite side lifting the barrier.On my very first shift no one told me to take a step forward before presenting arms,the Cpl shouted general salute present arms as the General came past in his car i threw my SLR bayonet fixed into the air straight into the roof of the shade,fumbling to get it under control i had to think quick so i threw up a salute and the general was in hysterics i presume he had seen the same thing many times.The Cpl was understanding as it was my first guard at the front and i always took one step forward after that.(Just remembering a funny moment from what was sometimes a very sad place).I can never remember Command Hill coming under attack.

[azyeoman]

This is a wonderful strand and I enjoy reading it and looking at the photos. I've got a medal to a Pte. in the ADP and was wondering if there is a nominal roll where I could confirm the medal and clasp as well as perhaps find out more about the man. How rare are medals to the ADP. I've got another one to a man from another part of the peninsula, Oman, and he was in the TOS. Are those unusual. I worked in Saudi for 13 years and that's my interest, but unfortunately I never made it to Yemen or the UAE. All the best and thanks.

[James Hoard]

Of all the colonies which the British left post WWII, only two - the first one, Burma, & one of the last, Aden, were to reject membership of the Commonwealth.

A wonderful post and wonderful thread to read through and enjoy, but I am not at all sure of the accuracy of the above statement.

What about Sudan, Somaliland, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Palestine/Israel, Nepal, and all the Gulf states. Not to mention Pakistan going out and coming in several times.

Cheers,

James.

[leigh kitchen]

Ooops, a rather glaring mistake - post corrected.

[Lee Enfield]

Probably a bit off topic but i remember my father was stationed on the HMS Bulwark in Aden, apart from intercepting pirates they also participated in operations during the Suez crisis . I do not know if the Suez crisis and the Gulf of Aden are related actions.

I recall him vaguely talking about saving some men from an oil tanker that had sunk or was nearly sunk in the gulf and how they tried to tow it back to a harbour. I am not sure what happened but i think there had been a collision or it had run aground , something like that.

Just before we emigrated to Oz he had to go back for once last stint before he joined the RAN and was posted back to the Bulwark to go to Kuwait as there was some unrest there.

I was pondering my navel ( no pun intended) the other day and looking over an Indian service medal I acquired and looked at the Afghanistan clasp NWF from 1919 and thought how here we are in 2012 and we are still mixing it up in these countries over 100 years later and it seems we are no better off or have achieved any gains.

Sorry if i am being politically incorrect , i am not looking for a debate and I am not looking to offend, just sharing some musings.

[Mervyn Mitton]

Lee (is that your first name or just the avatar ?) - your posts are welcome on the Forum and we will hope you keep your interest going.

You have made some good observations and with regard to the Middle East and Afghanistan our participation is an

ongoing mystery. This is actually our fourth foray into Afghanistan - 1840's - 1879/80's - 1919 and 1920's - and we

effectively lost all of them . However, we are going off topic - which is the Aden campaign. Mervyn

[leigh kitchen]

From "The Evening Chronicle", Kate Proctor, Aug 7 2012

A COURAGEOUS war widow is calling on Chronicle readers to back our "Save Our Fusiliers" campaign against army cutbacks.

Mavis Hoult, 66, from Washington had just given birth to her youngest son when her husband George was killed in Aden in the Middle East in 1967.

During a brutal rebel ambush he and four other North East soldiers tragically lost their lives.

Today, to commemorate his sacrifice and other fallen soldiers, Mavis is backing the Chronicle’s campaign to save the 2nd Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers – which the Government wants to scrap to save money.

“We’re going to be left with no defence, there will be nobody so that we are safe. I don’t know why the Government have chosen a North regiment, I know there are southern battalions going too but the Fusiliers is about the only northern one left.”

Mavis was left to bring up her two young children Gail, now 45, and the late Gary alone when George was tragically killed aged 23.

He and nine other soldiers from the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers were ambushed on June 20, 1967, by Saudi Arabian rebel fighters.

Five of the men were recruited in the North East and still just in their early 20s. A year later, the Northumberland Fusiliers merged to form the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and this link to her husband’s old regiment is why Mavis feels so strongly that she must support the troops.

“I support the campaign against the cuts. It’s a case of trying to keep the battalion up if possible. It’s tradition and it’s part of North East history as well,” she said.

The former school worker comes from a long line of Fusilier soldiers and her grandfather Thomas Dent and his four brothers all fought with the Royal Northumberlands.

She married her husband George when he was 18 and the couple were based in Germany between 1965 and 1966. The next year he was sent to Aden, which is now part of Yemen.

“It was the local battalion and full of local people. He loved army life.

“I went out to Aden after it happened – the army paid for relatives to get out there.

“It was pretty rough for the men but they had a job to do. He was buried out there. They couldn’t fetch the body home, but taking us out there was the next best they could do.

“I remember how smart they were when you would see them marching together.”

Mavis went on to work in a theatre and last year was given the honour of laying the wreath at the memorial for the Aden ambush held at the Cenotaph at the Haymarket in Newcastle.

She was also awarded the Elizabeth Cross, an honour given to family members of those killed in action, in 2011.

“It was just a little something to say that they remembered us.”

The campaign to save the 2nd Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was launched after Defence Secretary Phillip Hammond announced his plans to reduce the British Army from 102,000 troops to 82,000 by 2020.

As part of his vision for a restructured army, the 2nd Battalion will be scrapped and the 29 Regiment, the Royal Artillery based at Albemarle Barracks in Northumberland also faces an uncertain future.

The campaign now has the support of 16 MPs in the North East and more than 1,000 people have also signed a petition launched in the Evening Chronicle.

An e-petition launched by Major Chester Potts, chairman of the Fusiliers Association Northumberland, is also available for people to sign online with the hope that the Government’s decision will eventually be debated in the House of Commons.

Bill Hall, chairman of the Northumberland Fusiliers All Rank Club, and a former Aden veteran, has put a lot of effort into commemorating the ambush, which was one of the Fusiliers heaviest losses since the Second World War.

Thomas Liddell, Leslie Stewart, Walter Crombie and Bernard Wylie were also killed in the incident.

Edited October 21, 2012 by leigh kitchen

[daviator]

The Loss of Helicopter "XT 173" and The Actions of Fusilier John Duffy D.C.M. A helicopter attempting to land Fusiliers at an Observation Point on Temple Cliffs above Crater crashed down under heavy fire from the Armed Police, the pilot, Sgt Martin Forde of the QDG having sustained gunshot wounds to his right knee & being unable to control the rotor.As he attempted to land, the rotor blades struck the sides of a ravine.Forde managed to keep the aircraft upright as it descended, & dreading an ensuing fire when the helicopter struck down, frantically flicked off all switches & transmitted a "May Day" which was acknowledged.Lance Corporal Keightley was being carried in a litter at the side of the helicopter, Fusilier Duffy was seated next to Forde in the aircraft & in the resulting crash Keightley lost a leg, the other being amputated later.Under fire, Duffy rescued Keightley & Forde, who was still strapped into his seat, recovered a Self Loading Rifle (SLR) & an A41 man pack radio from the helicopter before it was completely destroyed, tended the wounded & called for assistance.About 45 minutes later a Wessex helicopter arrived on scene & deployed Royal Marine Commandos to sort out the enemy snipers & rescue the 3 survivorsDuffy was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal.Photo: Lance Corporal Jim Keightley