Bubblies Bugle

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=82 BGCOLOR="#000066" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>RAN Clearance Divers Association</B></FONT><B>     |   </B><B>  </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="RAN Clearance Divers Association"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="rancda.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="RANCDA "><U>RANCDA </U></A>   |   <A HREF="branch_history.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Branch History"><U>Branch History</U></A>   |   <A HREF="branch_structure.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" Branch Structure"><U> Branch Structure</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id55.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Team history"><U>Team history</U></A>   |   <A HREF="photo_albums.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Photo Albums"><U>Photo Albums</U></A>   |   <A HREF="articles.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Articles"><U>Articles</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id42.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Reunions"><U>Reunions</U></A>   |   <B>Bubblies Bugle</B>   |   <A HREF="id67.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Merchandise"><U>Merchandise</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id40.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Trivia Page"><U>Trivia Page</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U>Links</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Guestbook"><U>Guestbook</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#000066" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <B>Please Note:</B></div> <div> As quality photos and information come to hand, the site will be updated.  Send in photos of any vintage, to the  <A HREF="mailto:rancdt3@hotmail.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:rancdt3@hotmail.com"><U><I><B>webmaster</B></I></U></A>.</div> <div> Please include who, where & when.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="682b4870.jpg" border=0 width="180" height="135" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <IMG SRC="3cfb4f00.jpg" border=0 width="180" height="240" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=398 BGCOLOR="#0000CC" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="dfd00c00ezsuxq.jpg"> <div> <I>Bubblies Bugle</I></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>   <div align="center"><script type="text/javascript" src="http://pub15.bravenet.com/history/remote.php?usernum=1241240591&amp;cpv=2"> </script></div>   </B></div> <bR> <div> __________________________</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr><td><embed src="http://www.worldtimeserver.com/clocks/wtsclock001.swf?color=000080&wtsid=AU-QLD" width="200" height="200" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" /></td></tr> <tr><td><h2 align="center">Brisbane</h2></td></tr> </table>  </div> <div> <I>Atomic clock time</I></div> <bR> <bR> <div> ********************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <I><B>**Needed:  a diver in WA from 20 May 08 till 15 June approx. It' an surface EOD survey at Chidlow near Perth.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>Ex POCD or above looking for some casual work would be great.</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Contact: Roger Harris on 0409 118 767</B></I></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *********************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div> Following is a list of Clearance Divers honoured by their Peers as Fellows of the RAN CD Association.</div> <bR> <div> 1975 LCDR Alexander (Alex) Donald DSC, RAN (Retd) </div> <div> 1979 WOCD James (Jim) Henry, (Retd) </div> <div> 1984 CMDR Edward (Jake) Linton, MBE, RAN (Retd) </div> <div> 1989 WOCD Ray Cocks, (Retd) </div> <div> 1993 POCD Philip Kember, DSM (Retd) </div> <div> 1994 WOCD Glenn Spilsted OAM (Retd) </div> <div> 2003 CPOCD William (Bill) Fitzgerald, OAM (Retd) </div> <div> 2007 CDRE Clem Littleton, AO, RAN (Retd) </div> <div> 2008 WOCD Dale O'Halloran (Retd) </div> <div> 2008 CPOCD Eric McKenzie, (Retd) </div> <div> 2008 LCDR Ian McConnochie, OAM, RAN (Retd) </div> <div> 2008 LCDR Ian Wegener, AM, RAN (Retd) </div> <div> 2008 LCDR Paul (Taff) Sweeney, RAN </div> <div> 2008 LCDR Russell Crawford, CSC RAN </div> <div> 2008 WOCD Paul Darcey, CSM </div> <div> 2008 CPOCD Anthony (Tony) Ey, (Retd) </div> <div> 2008 LSCD John Branch, (Retd) </div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>************************************************************</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER</U></B></div> <bR> <div> By Piper Iain D Townsley SAS Association</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>The Idea:</U></B></div> <bR> <div> The idea of an Unknown Soldier with full military honours came from an Army Chaplain, the Reverend David Raition, MC.  During the First World War, near Armentieres, he noticed a grave bearing a pencilled inscription “An Unknown Soldier of the Black Watch, Royal Highland Regiment”. It was this which gave him the idea that later became a national memorial. It was not until 1920, however, that he was able to put forward the plan, which had been developing in his mind. He approached the Dean of Westminster, The Right Reverend Bishop Herbert Boyle, with the suggestion that an Unknown Soldier should be buried among the nations illustrious dead in Westminster Abbey. The Dean was able to persuade the British Grverment to accept this.</div> <div> A committee headed by the Foreign Minister, Lord Carson recommended that his office should arrange for an Unknown Soldier to be disinterred in France and brought to Westminster Abbey. He further recommended that the burial should take place on Armistice Day of that year (1920) and that King George V should be requested if, after he had unveiled the Cenotaph in Whitehall, he would follow the Gun Carriage bearing the body of the soldier to Westminster Abbey. And so an Unknown Soldier was brought from a battlefield of France and buried with ceremony amongst the tombs of the most antient knights, leaders and illustrious nobles of the land.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Six Bodies:</U></B></div> <bR> <div> Brigadier-General Wyatt, DSO, as General Officer in charge of troops in France and Flanders, and Director of the War Graves Commission, was given instruction that a body of a British soldier, which would be impossible to identify, should be brought from each of the six battle areas (the Aisne, Marne, Cambral, Somme, Arras and Ypres), on the night of 9<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> November, and placed in the Chapel at St. Pol.</div> <bR> <div> The party bringing in each body was to return at once to its unit so that there should be no chance of anyone knowing on which the choice fell. Working parties carried out these instructions and the Reverend George Kendall, OBE received the bodies that arrived in an ambulance, at an Army hut not far from Ypres, each body had been draped with a great national flag. A guard was set on the hut. In front of an altar was a coffin, which had been sent from England to receive the remains.</div> <bR> <div> At midnight, 9<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> November 1920, the Brigadier-General, with Colonel Gell, entered the hut. The General was blindfolded and turned towards the six bodies that lay in a row on stretchers covered with the national flag. He was turned in the direction of the bodies and moved towards them. The first body that he touched was to be that which would be Britain's “Unknown Soldier”. He then, with the help of Colonel Gell, placed the body of this Unknown Soldier into the coffin and screwed down the top. To quote the General, “I have no idea of who this soldier was, his Regiment, or even the battle field he had come, and no one else can know it”.</div> <div> The guard remained over the coffin in the hut through the night and no one was to enter. The other five bodies were re-buried in the Military Cemetery at St. Pol.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Mixed Service:</U></B></div> <bR> <div> The following morning the chaplains of the Church of England, the Roman Catholic Church and other church orders held a service in the hut. On the same day at noon, the Rev. Kendall came with an ambulance to the hut and the coffin was escorted under guard to Boulone. At 15.30 hours, after passing through troops lining the route on the outskirts of Boulogne, the ambulance drew up at an ancient castle, the headquarters of the French Army. Here to meet it were Col. Bradstock, Col. Gell, Maj, Fitzsimmons, Maj. Diehold (French Army) and Mr. Lebeau, the district sub-prefect.</div> <div> Eight soldiers including a Company Sergeant Major from the Royal Army Service Corps, a Sergeant of the from the Royal Engineers, a Gunner of the Royal Artillery, a Private from the Australian Light-Horse, two Privates, one from the Canadian Infantry and the other from the Machine Gun Corps, and two Riflemen from the 21<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" >st</FONT> London Regiment (First Surrey Rifles) stepped forward as bearers. </div> <div> The library of the castle had been turned into a Chapel Ardent. Into this, through corridors lined by Police, the body was taken. A French Company furnished the guard throughout the night. At noon the next day, a Knight Crusader's sword from the Tower of London collection, along with a plaque bearing the inscription “A British Warrior who fell in the Great War 1914-18 for King and Country” was fixed to the coffin. The coffin was then placed on a French military wagon, drawn by six horses, and escorted by French troops, to the quay at Boulogne where the Royal Navy destroyer HMS “Verdun” was along side. The cortege was at least a mile long. Marshal Foch, who represented the French nation, made a very touching speech, and Lt, General Sir George MacDonagh, representing King George V, gave the response. </div> <bR> <div> <U>French Soil:</U></div> <bR> <div> On board the destroyer (HMS Verdun) the same bearer-party laid the coffin on the deck abaft the stern gun platform on the port side. Six barrels of soil from French battlefields were put on board. This soil to be placed in the tomb at Westminster Abbey, so that the body should rest in soil on which so many of our troops gave their lives. HMS Verdun moved off slowly, a guard of the Blue-Jackets at “the present” and the guns on shore firing a salute. </div> <div> An escort of six destroyers joined HMS Verdun as she steamed slowly into Dover harbour as 19 guns fired a salute from the antient castle of Dover. </div> <div> Six Warrant Officers from the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, The Army and the Royal Flaying Corps became the bearers and brought the body ashore. It was followed by Sir George MacDonough, six Officers from all the services, officers and soldiers from the Dover castle garrison, and the Mayor of Dover. It was taken to the Quay Railway Station where it received a salute from a Guard of Honour furnished by the 2nd Connaugnt Rangers and the Duke of York's Military school Dover. The coffin was placed in a train carriage. There was an interval before the train moved off, during which time four sentries from one of the each service, stood guard. An escort of one officer and fifteen soldiers travelled in a second carriage. The coffin remained under guard on the train during the night at Victoria station London. The coffin was then taken over by troops of the 1<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" >st</FONT> Battalion Grenadier Guards. The coffin, covered by the national flag on which was now placed a steel helmet and a belt and bayonet, was drawn by six horses. It now moved in slow time on route to the Cenotaph. Led by a firing party and the bands of the Coldstream, Scots, Irish and Welsh Guards. Troops from all the services followed the gun carriage. The pall-bearers were twelve eminent Lords and Earls.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>The Cenotaph:</U></B></div> <bR> <div> The gun carriage drew up at the Cenotaph. King George stepped forward and placed his wreath of red roses and bay leaves on the coffin. After “The Silence” the gun carriage again moved forward. King George (as chief mourner) took his place immediately behind it, followed by the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, Prince Henry, and the Duke of Connaugnt, along with other Lords, Earls and Ministers of State.</div> <div> The coffin was borne by NCOs from the Brigade of Guards, and passed through two lines of 100 veterans and service men that had been awarded the Victoria Cross. Behind these were widows and mothers of the fallen.</div> <div> The RSM conducting the ceremony, faced with a gathering of highly decorated and high ranking military men (including the men awarded the VC), all wearing rows of medals, decreed that all would salute the Cenotaph as they marched past by placing their hand over their medals, signifying that “No matter what honours we may have been awarded they are as nothing compared with the honour due to those who paid the supreme sacrifice”. </div> <bR> <div> The Dean of Westminster conducted the service. The music was by English composers, and included Brother Kipling's “Recessional”. During the singing of “Lead Kindly Light” the bears came forward, removed the helmet, belt and bayonet from the coffin, and at the conclusion lowered the coffin into the tomb.</div> <div> At the Committal, the King scattered the soil from each of the battlefields from a silver shell. Then, the poignant notes of “Last Post” rang out, followed by “Reveille”. Finale, the two lines of Victoria Cross holders past on either side of the tomb. (Last post and then Reveille are played).</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>The Inscription on the Tomb reads</U></B><U>:</U></div> <bR> <div> “Beneath this stone lies the body of a British Warrior, unknown by name or rank, brought here on Armistice Day, November 11, 1920, in the presence of His Majesty King George V, his Ministers of State, the chiefs of his forces and a vast concourse of the nation. Thus are commemorated the multitudes who during the Great War of 1914-18 gave the most that man can give, life itself, for God, for King and country, for loved ones, home and Empire, for the sacred cause of justice and freedom of the world. They buried him among kings because he had done good toward God and toward His House.”</div> <bR> <bR> <div> And so a chapter in history ends for one Soldier, a mother's son, a father, husband, brother, friend, or the son of a widow?  who does indeed spiritually represent all those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the service of their country and of freedom. I feel however that this young soldier might have been shy and embarrassed with his lying to rest, a send off normally accorded to Kings and nobility, Yet, is he not equally entitled to high regard, for as we here this evening know that a time will come, and the wisest of us knows not how soon, when all distinctions of rank and fortune save those of good report shall cease, and death, that great leveller of mankind, shall reduce us all to the same state. </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>*******************************************************************</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <I><U>BELT BUCKLE</U></I></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> An initial order has been placed for 50 pewter and 50 antique brass belt buckles (70mm). </div> <div> Each comes with a velvet bag. </div> <div> The price to members is $35.00 plus postage of $5.00.  NSW is the distributor.</div> <bR> <div> Contact <I>Eric McKenzie: </I> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="mailto:divermac@hotkey.net.au" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:divermac@hotkey.net.au"><U>divermac@hotkey.net.au</U></A> </FONT> for further details.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="dcced170.jpg" border=0 width="749" height="535" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <div> ***************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>STANDING INVITATION TO RANCDA MEMBERS - </B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFF00" FACE="Arial" ><B>GRADUATION OF ABCD & MCDO'S </B></FONT></div> <div> All National CD Assoc financial members are now invited to the graduations of new Clearance Divers and </div> <div> Mine Clearance Diving Officers.  We strongly encourage you to attend if you can.  You will be well looked after </div> <div> by the staff of the Diving School and it is a great chance to see Penguin and the Diving Museum. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> Contact:  Diving School</div> <div> 02 9960 0521</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>For those who reckon they were hard done by:-</B></div> <div> <B>Weights of various diving equipment from the old days.</B></div> <bR> <div> SCUBA AIR twin 64, no weights - 25 kg</div> <div> SCUBA AIR 11.3 with EBS no weights - 36 kgs</div> <div> Gerzats No BC/ weight - 20 kg</div> <div> SCUBA MIX A5800 - No BC/ weight - 29 kg</div> <div> SCUBA MIX A5800 complete with BC and weights - 40 Kg</div> <div> SCUBA MIX FGT-1A complete BC and weight - 39kg</div> <div> LAR-VII No BC/ weight - 13kg</div> <div> LAR-V No BC/ weight - 11kg</div> <div> OBA 5561 - 15 kg</div> <div> 150 cu Cylinder - 40 kg</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>*******************************</B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://www.topsitelists.com/out.cgi?area=start&user=vietnamvet&nocheat=1104881385&ID=264&url=http://www.members.shaw.ca/america04" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.topsitelists.com/out.cgi?area"><U><IMG SRC="37627e60.jpg" border=0 width="295" height="230" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> <I>(Awarded  5 Jan 05.)</I></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>