The PPDRDG's
Homebuilt Guestbook......where your President shares
other peoples' WAR
STORIES FROM PARADISE It would be great if you,
gentle reader, would send me your story of
oppression, loneliness, and/or debauchery to include
in these modest pages! Click the BIOT
Seal to go straight to the Guestbook Entry
Form! If you are interested in info or have a
comment, or are a Wannabe, e-mail
me instead!
I'll update these pages as I
receive your warstory! No anoymous reports - only if you're willing to put
yourself up to the ridicule of the world will you
be entered into this Guestbook! I'll even publish a photo of
you or people you knew, just send
it
directly to me with your
story! I can't promise to use
every picture you send, because of the server's
file size limits, but I'll try to use something.
From Bob Swarbrick, Royal Marines,
Long Retired <bobswarbrick@aol.com>
I am currently researching the deployment of
Royal Marines on Addu Atoll in 1942, in
particular, "Detachment 350". I have
letters from a Marine who served there for some
2 years, and am anxious to find out more.
I have read the book "Only the Sun Remembers"
which deals with this period, but would like to
contact anybody who has additional information.
JEAN MARIE CHELIN
My grandfather Frederic Gendron , a born Seychellois
was the Administrator of Diego Garcia between 1930 and
1940. He died in Mauritius in 1941. My
mother was born in the islands in 1932. [Editor's Note: I'm listing
Jean Marie in this section because of the period the
Grandfather was present on DG... Jean Marie is
undboutably very young!] Best regards Jean Marie Chelin Allee des Flamboyants Carlos Tamarin Mauritius email <fred1@intnet.mu>
The First
Known Ally on the Island! HARRY "Timber" WOOD 1942
MY
QUEST = Any news of my dad E-MAIL =
Reencro@eircom.ie NATIONALITY
= Irish SERVICE
= Dad was in RAF UNIT =
He set up the wireless transmitter station and
operated it RANK/RATE/JOB
= He died in 1984 and I hav just got his diaries MY
INTEREST IN DG IS = Green Eco-Freak Who Hates How
the Brits Have Taken Such Good Care of The Island MY
WARSTORY = My father was one of 6 sent from
Colombo to set up a wireless station, the idea
being that they could look for Japanese with
Sunderlands, but communications had to be set up
first. There was a Mauritian manager there
with his wife and daughter, and some Mauritian
volunteer watchmen. He writes of the sending
of the Catalina to see if the Japanese had landed
when he could not get the wireless to work despite
spending 15 hour days on the radio. It was
hot and primitive there. At night 5 of the
men would sit and smoke, drink their one beer and
discuss communism. The food was very poor
and he left D.G. malnourished. He also writes of
an explosion when a 'native' was burned to death,
and of a dance he attended where the local people
ignored him and did their dancing.
Tied for The First Known Ally on the
Island! EDWARD WALTER PEARCE 1942
Received 13 Feb 2011 from John Pearce
<johnpearce@waitrose.com>
I was very interested
to read the accounts on your site of life on DG during
WW2 as my late father served there in the RAF after
the fall of Singapore
in February 1942. Also my memory has been jolted by
recent press articles about the terrible plight of the
Chagos islanders and their quest to quite rightly
return home.
My father was Edward Walter
Pearce (known as Eddie or Ted), AC2 wireless operator
RAF. It is now some 15 years
since he passed away but I remember him talking fondly
about DG when as a child I asked about what he did
during the war. He was a licenced radio amateur and
volunteered for the RAF before hostilities began. I
understand that he completed his basic training at a
camp in Blackpool,
marching up and down the front in all weathers. I
think his first posting was to a base in Trincomalee,
Ceylon
where he caught malaria. From there he was sent to
Malaya (as was) and served on RAF bases at Butterworth
and Alor Setar until the Japs invaded and they fell
back to Singapore.
A couple of weeks before the fall of Singapore his
unit were evacuated by corvette and deposited on DG, I
remember him talking about the jetty, lagoon and
setting up radio equipment for flying boats, sometimes
testing from boats off-shore. I think he enjoyed his
time there and when they had sufficient beers of an
evening the favourite game was to hurtle down the
jetty and dive into the lagoon and swim back to shore
without getting bitten or stung. Amongst other things
I remember he said they used to hear a lot of Japanese
morse traffic while they were there. He returned to
the UK to
be married in April 1945 looking very bronzed with
bleached blond hair. It would be interesting
to hear from anyone who remembers him there although
there can’t be many veterans surviving now.
With
regards John Pearce
The First
Known Canadian on the Island! HENRY WALSH <asmwalsh@cyberus.ca> 25 April 1942
MY QUEST = Reminiscing NATIONALITY = Canadian; SERVICE =
Royal Canadian Air Force; UNIT = Air Navigator,
413 Squadron, RCAF, Koggala, Ceylon;
RANK/RATE/JOB = Then Flying Officer, Retired as
Colonel, 1969. MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Stroll Down
Memory Lane MY WARSTORY = A large Japanese fleet,
after having launched bombing raids on Colombo
and Trincomalee in early April 1942 were
still roaming somewhere on the Indian
ocean. Around the 20 Apr wireless contact
with Diego Garcia was lost and it was feared
that the Japanese had raided the island.
Our Catalina crew was dispatched to determine
what had happened. No chart of the the DG
area was available but we were given the
Latitude and logintude and set off. We
warily circled the atoll, saw no ships or
activity on the islands and so alit. A
motor boat took us ashore and we found all was
well except that their transmitter was on the
fritz. The only strange thing to see was the
large number of crabs running up and down the
coconut trees!
And Yet
Another Canadian! JOHN P. RANKIN <rankinjohn@sympatico.ca> October 20, 1943
NATIONALITY = Canadian SERVICE = Royal Canadian Air Force UNIT = Navigator 413 Squadron; Koggala,
Ceylon (Sri Lanka) RANK/RATE/JOB = Fight Lieutenant --
Retired MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Stroll Down
Memory Lane SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Actually, I Have
a Real Story To Tell MY WARSTORY = Recently read about the
first landing in the atoll at DG by Hank
Walsh of our squadron in 1942 - on Oct. 23, 1943
we landed at DG in the lagoon with our trusty
CATALINA. The purpose of the visit was to
ascertain the copra crop of the plantation on the
atoll -- copra was a main ingredient in the
manufacture of rope -- evidently a
vital material used in the war -- the atoll
was practically deserted except for the plantation
manager and a few natives. Made many
operation trips on anti- sub searches.
Finished a tour of operations and became the
comanding officer of ADDU ATOLL in 1944.
ADDU is north of DG about 34 miles south of the
equator and was an advanced flying boat base for
CATALINAS and SUNDERLANDS. In 1944, addu in
the MALDIVES was practically stone age -- today it
is another paradise in the INDIAN OCEAN with jet
service and luxurious accomodations.... SO I
guess we were #2 to visit DG -- Thanks for your
info on present day DG -- Keep up the
good work -- F/LT J.P.Rankin 27
1499 BYRONBASELINE ROAD LONDON ONT CANADA N6K4T4.
IAN M. CLYDE, RAF Diego Garcia <IanMClyde@aol.com> 1943
Hi,
If
you know of any personnel who have returned home to
the Seattle area, and may have photographs of the
old Royal Air Force base at the south end of the
lagoon, I would like to get in touch. I don't
suppose any of the service people on D.G. today were
born when I was stationed there - 1943.
My
address is : 4811-180th SW, Unit D-205,
Lynnwood WA 98037 (425)743-3341 Best
wishes, Ian M.
Clyde (RAF July 1940 to Feb, 1947)
Check out
John Mackay's Story of Fortress
DG! 1943-1944
Yes, while the RAF was living
it up at the Plantation, John and the Indian
Army were manning the canons at Canon Point!
hi
brian, i was wondering if you had any information
on how to get to the island where 'katie'is?.my
grandfather was squadron leader colin parry, he
inspected 'katie' and declared her a right
-off,but also he flew catalinas,'katie'amongst
them. he was awarded the DFC for his part in ww2
flying catalinas. my father is very keen to
visit 'katie' if it is possible,my grandfather
died 16 years ago and my father would like to
visit some ofthe places important to him now that
he has the time, i hope you can help, thank you
for your time, lucy
bunn(nee parry)
Brian
replies: Wow!
I'm
very
pleased to hear from you Lucy. I had no idea that
your grandfather was the person who had written
off Katie, nor that he had flown her. It all adds
to the mythos of Katie. I would love to hear
more if your father has any tales to tell that his
father passed on. We could add them to the web
page. Some pictures of Katie in her prime would be
wonderful if you have them.
I'm
not sure how your father could get to Diego
Garcia. There are strict limitations these days
because of the Iraq war, but Ted Morris, who does
the DG website, has just resurfaced from a few
years in Iraq, and I will contact him to see if he
knows how. Perhaps contacting the RAF and getting
out on a transport plane would be the way to go.
I'd like to go too, it would be a grand adventure.
I must admit I have thought about it a few times,
but never taken it seriously. Best
wishes Brian
Park
Before the
SEABEES there were
ROYAL ENGINEERS! 1944
Just a short note. My father
Capt. M. England RE, was attached to the Indian
Army and was sent to D.G. in around 1944/5 to
construct a flying boat base there,
unfortunately he died a few years ago, but would
have loved to see the stories and photo's of the
island. He talked about it often as one of the
most beautiful place in the world. Talking of
fishing - they would row out into the
lagoon throw over some gun cotton and wait! John England
<john.england1@ntlworld.com>
1944/1945
NAME = Douglas Mackie MY QUEST = A Trip and anniversary with
my wife VT of a SWALLOW = Tell me E-MAIL = mackiedgls@aol.com NATIONALITY = Scottish SERVICE = 240 Squadron RAF UNIT = Flying Detachment RANK/RATE/JOB = 1944/5 W/O FME/AG Retired (Aged 80yrs). MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Stroll Down
Memory Lane MY WARSTORY = Visits of long ago. I was a
member of a crew of a PBY, or Catalina as the
RAF called them, in 1944, when we were sent down
to Diego Garcia and Addu Atoll on A/S patrols. I was at that
time stationed up at Madras on 240 Squadron, but
from there were sent on various detachments of
which Diego Garcia was one. Because of
this I intend to apply under the " Lottery Gant"
plan, "Heroes Return" to hopefully return there
for a memorable visit. I have
memories of our kite sitting out there, gently
lapping on the water while we jumped off the
float or hull blister to have a lovely swim. In the
meantime I am trying to plan the trip
sometime during Feb/Mar 2005. Any
suggestions of Airlines, travel agents etc.
would be much appreciated, also, is it possible
to visit "Katie" the old PBY, out there? Yours sincerely Douglas Mackie
WWII
Photos From a "long lost film in the
Imperial War Museum" Provided by Alan Donaldson, who is the son-in-law
of John Loader, who was on the island when these
photos were taken!
Syd Gornall,
RAF Communications Engineer
FROM: Leslie Gornall
[lesgornall@mac.com] 12 December 2006 I have just found your
website and find it very interesting. My late father Syd Gornall
was a British RAF communications engineer in the
second world war. He was a fantastically
talented radio engineer, based in Singapore at Selita
(spelling?) airdrome, spending hours on a morse key
with a code book in one hand. The story he told
so often was that he was left to finish communicating
in coded morse the last messages relating to the
evacuation of Singapore when it fell to the
Japanese. Messages finished he took of his
headset only to find everyone had gone - escaping by
truck through heavy Japanese fire to the last boat -
without him. A truck returned through the
Japanese lines from the harbour when a colleague
realised he was missing and the hero came back for
him. He was picked up and driven by his mate to the
boat. My mum met this hero -driver some years
back as a result of a BBC broadcast. Anyhow, my dad was
subsequently shipped to Diago Garcia to get the radio
systems tuned up and working and he spent some years
on the island with D8 copper antenna wire, valves and
morse keys. He managed to trade bully beef for
fresh chickens raised by the local inhabitants to
supplement the beans and beef rations knowing that the
supply ship was due in 6 months - all stocks precisely
measured and military. However just when the beef
was out of stock, the supply ship was diverted. The beef for chicken
exchange rate not being favorable enough, the
team on the island was stuck with beans for three
meals a day for months. I leave it to you to imagine
the colourful details of the story at this point. My dad helped build a jetty
for planes and small boats to tie up to. From
this jetty he started fishing and dad relates how in
the middle of the bean-only diet, using the D8 antenna
wire and a home made hook, a shark was caught and the
crew feasted on shark meat (not much of it on even a
big shark dad reports). There were other
characters in Dad's stories, Windy the meteorologist
who set off weather ballons, some bad storms and the
occasional plane. In an attic there are still some old
magazines from the island. I will look them up
when I get home and maybe get a scan of them for your
pages. I would be interested to know if anyone knew my
father and could fill in some more details.
Best Regards Dr. Les. Gornall Tbilisi, Georgia
First
Recorded Fly-By! 1952
With Many Thanks to Tony Freeborn for
permission to use the story, and to
John (Mo) Botwood, Founder and
President of The
Shackleton
Association
Until
fairly recently, few people had heard of Diego
Garcia. It is a small atoll in the Indian Ocean
known only to adventurous seafarers en route to
the Antipodes from Europe. However, since the
establishment of a US strategic airfield on the
island in - I think - the late 60’s it has become
more widely known. During the Iraqi War, B52
bombers flew round trips from Diego Garcia to Iraq
and back, and, I believe, in the more recent
Kosevo episode, aircraft operated out of the
Island.
Where
is Diego Garcia? In position 6.57S, 72.42E,
approximately 300 miles south of Gan and 900 miles
SSW of Ceylon.
It
was therefore with much interest and some
puzzlement that our crew was tasked, whilst on
detachment from Gibraltar to Negombo in 1952 to
fly to Diego Garcia and check whether the World
War II flying boat moorings were still there,
prior to a FEAF Sunderland being sent in on a
“showing the flag” visit.
On
13th August 1952 we set off from Negombo in WB854
bound for the island. I remember the flight well;
SW Monsoon weather, low cloud and poor visibility,
with a surface wind of 25 - 30 knots. We were all
looking forward to “Crossing the Line” into the
Southern Hemisphere, the first time for most of
us. There was no initiation held - at least not in
the front end, but I think one or two of the young
radar gunners had a few pranks played on them at
the Equator. True to our expectations the SW wind
started to back around, but not as far as
anticipated and never did get right around to the
SE. We expected the water vortex in the Galley
sink to start rotating the opposite way, but there
was no change - not even going straight down.
Cyclostropic force was not working properly!
Well
before we approached the atoll, the ASV (search)
radar went u/s. Never mind! Coastal Command
navigation procedures would ensure that we would
find the island, on the nose, on ETA. This did not
happen, but after a leg or two of a square search
the island was sighted through the haze. The
narrow horseshoe shaped atoll was located at the
centre of the U shape. Two or three mooring buoys
were seen near the settlement and seemed to be in
good condition and were duly photographed. We also
dropped a bag of newspapers near to the shoreline
and in front of a small group of spectators. We
were probably the first aircraft they had ever
seen that did not land in the lagoon and no doubt
wondered where we had come from and whether we
would make it back to some far-off land base.
The
journey back to Negombo was uneventful, except
that the G4B Compass went unserviceable and we had
to steer by the P12 Compass. Eventually we sighted
the powerful lighthouse at Galle and landed back
at Negombo. Flight time 14 hours and 5 minutes.
The navigator Flying Officer “Harry” James was
very proud that his log and chart were to be sent
to HQ FEAF as an excellent example of “Coastal”
navigation procedures.
Diego
Garcia was to be featured again twice in my life.
During
my time with 205 Squadron at Singapore in the
early 1960s, we received a visit from the Flight
Safety Captain of QANTAS, the Australian airline.
The Company was concerned about SAR facilities in
the South Indian Ocean as their Super
Constellations were then flying directly from
Australia to South Africa. Roy Bennett and I
briefed them on the facilities at Gan, where we
kept 2 SAR Shackletons and we recommended that in
the event of a dire emergency in the relevant
sector of their route they should make for Diego
Garcia and ditch in the lagoon, if they were
unable to make it to Gan.
The
third time was in July 1973 when doing a Fleet
Exercise to the north of Diego Garcia I found
myself in a 203 Squadron Nimrod, operating about
80 miles from the Island. I called up the American
airfield on the UHF and reported our position. I
asked if they had an RAF doctor on the Island,
studying tropical medicine. With some hesitation,
the Controller said yes, there was an RAF doctor
there. To my enquiry as to whether he was hitting
peoples on the head with a metal tray - supposedly
to demonstrate the strength of the human skull -
the reply came back - “That’s the guy”!! -
Tony
Freeborn.
Note from Mo (June 2001):
I flew over DG in 1961 in passage from Gan to
Mauritius to attend a civil function thanking our
squadron for saving all the kids on Rodriguez with
an airborne delivery of a serum. [now that
would be an interesting story!]
First Recorded Visit by An American! 1961
BARRETT M.
HILL <bmh1934@live.com> USS GREENWICH BAY
I just found your web page on Diego Garcia, but I
was disappointed to find no mention of the vist to
Diego Garcia by the U.S.S. Greenwich Bay, of which I
was a crew member, in early October, 1961. We were the
Flagship for the U.S. in that part of the world and
carried an Admiral on board. Then, it was a totally
unspoiled island paradise, and one of my favorite
memories of my years in the Navy. Sincerely, Barrett M. Hill
1967 Alex Sutton, RN <aj.sutton@wanadoo.fr> HMS VIDAL Landing Party
Citizenship = France; Service = Royal Navy; Outfit =
Electrical for Survey party
VT_of_a_Swallow = Cavron St Martin
I remember having picked up our Scientific party who
were mainly from Smithsonian Institute in USA . They
were to do scientific operations on amount of species
on the Island. We were landed and as we approached the
shore it looked like it was receding from us which w
elater found out were the land crabs. The place we
landed we were told had been used by Russians as there
many old huge heavy duty batteries littering the site.
Amongst our RN party we had US seebees who set about
making life liveable for us all. Within a few days we
had showers also a dining area around each tent also
we dug a a small ditch to deter the land crabs from
entering them. Also each morning you shook your boots
out to check for such things. The local population
were Seychelles. Word went out we were looking for
guides t cut paths etc through the jungle for us. One
morning a party of several locals were marched in to
our camp by one wearing British army jacket with
corporals stripes on it. he was made head guide we
decided on there pay which was as much per day as they
earned a week picking coconuts. We all worked hard
during the day and had tot time when we returned back
to camp and luckily the seebees never partake of it. I
also had to go to the local commissioners house along
with a Chief Engine Room Artificer to help out with
the generator there. We were taken there by ships
landrover and as we ran over the land crabs who stood
up to us we used to paint on the side of the landrover
each kill. After our work there we were offered a meal
of curry. We ate heartily only to find that it was dog
curry. Which caused a few to be sick as reported in
another report there were no cattle on the island.We
struck up a good report with our Seychelles guides
they used to put there machetes in to hollow trees and
come out with huge crabs then tie them up by stripping
a palm leaf. We also used to fish in the lagoon for
longusta lobsters . My great memory is of the small
turtles being born and making a run for the sea . It
was good hard work and an excellent 3 months in
paradise. We also put up a road sign with miles to
London as well as a few other places . I would like to
go back to Diego Garcia just to see if anything that
we all knew then still survives? I also have many
other stories I would like to post here sometime.
1967
JOHN HARRIS, RN <john.harris1@virgin.net> HMS VIDAL
NATIONALITY = British; SERVICE =
British Royal Navy Carried Seabees to the island for
initial survey as suitablility as an air base RANK/RATE/JOB = Stores Petty
Officer-H.M.S. Vidal-British Survey Ship now retired MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Stroll
Down Memory Lane SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Actually,
I Have a Real Story To Tell MY WARSTORY = see above, have
photos taken of children and native personnel living
on the island before they were kicked
off. I
arrived at DG in July, 1967 onboard the British Royal
Naval Survey Ship H.M.S. Vidal. We were carrying about
12 seabees and a number of scientists from Cambridge
University who were principally botanists. We had
collected these individuals from RAF, Gan where they
had arrived from USA and Great Britain. We
floated our Land Rover vehicle ashore and transported
the scientists ashore where they were to carry out
plant collecting, which they pressed between sheets of
newspaper for transport back to the U.K.
The seabees set up camp in another area, not far from
an old gun covering the entrance to the lagoon which
appeared to have been built in Portsmouth, England in
the 1900s. Although a stores clerical officer myself,
we were allowed to work with the seabees on a portable
drilling rig collecting samples from various depths,
presumably to send back to the USA to establish what
building materials were available locally.
The local plantation workers were not used to seeing
films, which we carried for our own entertainment, the
Petty Officers mess of which I was a member, elected
to show a film to the natives by hanging the screen on
the goalposts and obtaining electricity from a
local weather station, this being the only power on
the island, we planned to show them 'Those Magnificent
Men in their Flying Machines" as this would get over
the language barrier, but our skipper, an assize,
refused to allow us to do this as it was against the
loan agreement, not to show to civilian audiences who
would then not pay to see them at the local
cinema(some chance?).
The scientists also collected fish samples from the
lagoon, they swam underwater and somehow asphyxiated
them with a spray, the locals then collected them in
catching nets, these were then wrapped in bandages
placed in some form of preservative, packed in drums
and again on our next visit to Gan , flown back to the
States for analysis I guess.
Whilst working on the drilling rig, one of the seabees
thumbs were smashed by a large concrete weight, he was
brought onboard the ship, where our Surgeon Lieutenant
gave him an anaesthetic, but as there were only two
surgical people onboard I was asked to hold the chaps
wrists, whilst out surgeon sawed off the top joint of
each, never having done this before I felt somewhat
queasy, but was assured by the medical staff that next
time I would not feel so faint.
There were no cattle on the island when I was there,
only wild horses, which one of our marksman was asked
to shoot one in order to give the local people the
change from a fish diet.
Our surgeon held a clinic for the locals to attend and
I believe one old lady walked 42 miles to get to it,
the plantation manger was not in favour of too many
surgeries as this stopped his people working. We
spent about two months at the island and I was sorry
to learn of the local population being kicked off to make way for the military, it
truly was a paradise island.
1967
David M.
Speed, RN <davespeed21a@hotmail.com> HMS VIDAL
1966/67 ONBOARD HMS VIDAL R.N.SURVEY SHIP Outfit = HYDROGRAPHIC
SURVEY BRANCH
WE WERE OUT IN THE INDIAN OCEAN AND PERSIAN GULF
DOING HYDROGRAPHIC SURVEYS, UPDATING CHARTS AND
DOING NEW WORK,PART OF IT BEING A SURVEY OF THE
LAGOON OF DIEGO GARCIA. AS ALREADY MENTIONED BY
SOMEONE PREVIOUSLY, WE ALSO PICKED UP U.S.PERSONNEL
AND VARIOUS EQUIPMENT FROM MOMBASA AND LANDED THEM
ON THE ISLAND , THESE BEING PART OF THE ORIGINAL
SURVEY TEAM FOR THE FUTURE AIRSTRIP ETC. WHICH AT
THAT TIME WE KNEW VERY LITTLE
ABOUT.
THE ISLAND WAS STILL FULLY INHABITED AND THE COCONUT
PLANTATIONS WERE IN PRODUCTION WITH THE COIR AND
MILK.THOSE LOCAL GUYS COULD CERTAINLY USE THEIR
MACHETTES. WE DIDNT HAVE A GREAT DEAL OF CONTACT
WITH THE LOCALS HOWEVER AS MOST OF OUR TIME WAS
OBVIOUSLY SPENT IN THE LAGOON DOING THE SURVEY.I DO
REMEMBER PLAYING FOOTBALL AGAINST THEM THOUGH IN AN
ARRANGED GAME, JUST TO GIVE US A BREAK, AND IF MY
MEMORY SERVES ME RIGHT I THINK WE WON BUT THEY
KICKED SEVEN SHADES OF SHIT OUT OF US. THEY PROBABLY
KNEW MORE ABOUT WHAT WAS HAPPENING THAN WE DID AND
WE WERE THE FIRST TO GET A BIT OF STICK.
THE MOST VIVID MEMORIES OF THE ISLAND ARE OF HOW
PEACEFUL AND BEAUTIFUL IT WAS WITH THE FABULOUS
WHITE BEACHES OVERHUNG WITH PALMS. ON ONE BEACH
THERE WAS THE WRECK OF AN OLD FLYING BOAT,WHICH I
HAVE A PHOTOGRAPH OF ALONG WITH OTHER PHOTOS WHICH I
HAVE NOT LOOKED AT FOR YEARS.ALSO THE FIRST EVER
ENCOUNTER WITH THE MARCHING ARMY OF LAND CRABS,WHICH
AT FIRST WAS A BIT EERIE.
AS WELL AS THE SURVEY OF THE LAGOON WE DID A NIGHT
OBSERVATION CAMP, TO PLOT THE EXACT POSITION OF THE
ISLAND ON THE GLOBE,USING THE STARS. THIS WAS A REAL
NOVELTY AT THE TIME AS WE WERE VERY RARELY CALLED ON
TO DO THIS.
AT THAT TIME WE HAD NO IDEA WHAT WAS REALLY
HAPPENING IN DIEGO GARCIA AND THAT IT WOULD PLAY
SUCH A VITAL ROLE IN TIMES AHEAD.
1967
Ray Dinnage, RN <r.dinnage568@btinternet.com> HMS VIDAL
NATIONALITY = British; SERVICE
= Royal Navy; Outfit = Hydrographic/Diver
My Quest = Cauthiously share privideged
memories.
MY WARSTORY =I was a hydrographic surveyor aboard HMS
Vidal in 1967. We carried out a survey of the
lagoon and entrances of Diego Garcia during the
summer of that year.I have many Robinson Crusoe
memories of that survey. This was just before we
let you Americans in! Are you interested in any
more detail?(This was a very special time for
me. I have surveyed in many remote parts of the
world since, but will always remember DG as
somewhere very special).
TERRY WILLIAMS Aboard the
USS JOHN R. PERRY (DE 1034) June - July, 1968
YEARS =
About june/July 1968 NAME =
Terry Williams MY QUEST
= A long and hapy life. E-MAIL =
steamer@potc.net NATIONALITY
= US; SERVICE = USN; UNIT = Initial scouting for
possible Navy base; RANK/RATE/JOB = Then- Ensign Now-
LCDR (Ret) SUBJECT
OF MY STORY: = Actually, I Have a Real Story To
Tell MY
WARSTORY = We steamed in and anchored in the
logoon. Capt. ordered dress ship lights on ship.
Capt. went ashore to meet local ruler. Sent crew
ashore to look at the island. We steamed out. We
sent in a report. Now many of you have been
stationed there.....
And
Now, The Rest of The Story: I was on the USS
John R. Perry (DE 1034), and in about 1969 we made
the first scouting of Diego Garcia since WWII. The
idea was to look the place over and report back.
We used an 1856 British Admiralty chart (updated
to about 1944) to navigate. (Some rotter got away
with that chart before I could steal it) The
Captain intended to refuel there as the chart
showed a refueling pier. We pulled in and put up
dress ship lights. Turned out to be more lights
than had been seen there for a great many years.
The captain put on his dress whites and went
ashore in the motor whaleboat (the pier looked
like it had rotted and fallen into the water years
before) to meet the "king" (plantation
manager). Manager was dressed in an old
T-shirt and shorts. Population consisted of
coconut pickers and a French school teacher. The
only fuel available was in a 55 gallon drum that
they used for their small diesel generator.
A supply ship visited about once a month or so.
Quite a place was Diego Garcia in those
days! Guess they liked what we said, as you
are now there. Looks a lot different now.
After
reading around on your web site, I got to
wondering exactly when we visited Diego Garcia on
the John R. Perry, as no one mentioned seeing any
Americans already there. Looking on my Shellback
certificate, we first crossed the equator in the
Pacific on May 26, 1968. After doing an op, we
went to Subic for R&R and after about a day we
were directed to proceed directly to the Indian
Ocean, after picking up a lot of movies and a
Doctor. We picked up a few new crew in Subic and
so they really suffered on the Indian Ocean
crossing of the equator, as the crew was about 90%
Shellbacks at that point. We refueled in
Penang, and believe we stopped at Diego Garcia
before we went on to Port Louie. So that
would make our port visit in June or July of
1968. Guess this will change some of the war
stories about who the first Americans and first
Navy folks were on Diego Garcia. The John R.
Perry spent about 3 days anchored in the lagoon,
and sent several boat parties ashore. I took
some 8mm movies on that cruise and there is a
little footage of Diego Garcia (which doesn't show
very much as they were taken from the ship).
I
expect you are busy right now. Keep up the good
work. LCDR
Terrill
D. Williams USN (Ret)
Engineering
Aides from NMCB 40 Aboard the
USS JOHN R. PERRY (DE 1034) June - July, 1968
Hi
Ted. I have some info that you might want to
use. NMCB-40 was deployed from October '67
to July -68 to Chu Lai, RVM. Sometime during
the late Spring to early Summer of 1968 a
detachment of a dozen Engineering Aides
(surveyors) from Headquarters Company were sent
from our base camp in Chu Lai to the 3rd Naval
Construction Brigade Headquarters in Saigon.
I don't know what or if the detachment had a name
but when they arrived at the Brigade offices they
received the name "OPERATION BACKSTOP". From
there they were sent to Diego Garcia. These
I believe were the first Americans to be
there. If not, they definitely were the
first US military to be there. By
coincidence or not, NMCB-40 was the first SEABEE
battalion to deploy to Diego in early 1971.
From there, it's all history!
Can Do!
Bruce MacDougall
NMCG 40, "C" Company, 1/67/69
GORDON HEFT Aboard the
USS JOHN R. PERRY (DE 1034) June - July, 1968
MY
QUEST = Total Enlightenment VT of a
SWALLOW = Zero when he hits a solid object -
Terminal E-MAIL =
zgor@earthlink.net NATIONALITY
= USA; SERVICE = USN; UNIT = USS John R
Perry DE1034; RANK/RATE/JOB = EM3 - EM2 -
EM3 - EM2 MY
INTEREST IN DG IS = My Time There is Lost in an
Alcoholic Haze, Help Me Remember! SUBJECT
OF MY STORY: = Actually, I Have a Real Story To
Tell MY
WARSTORY = My story is very simple and already
told. I was on
that trip to DG aboard the USS John R. Perry
(DE-1034) in "June/July 1968" as related by
LCDR-Ret Terry Williams. Mr. Williams was my
engineering officer at the time. We were operating
out of Mauritius on that trip. That's it. I
never made it to the beach - thank God for small
favors !
HARRY A. KINSEY Aboard the
USS JOHN R. PERRY (DE 1034) June - July, 1968
Dates_Aboard = yes
Name = Harry A. Kinsey < hak777@netzero.com>
Citizenship = USA
Outfit = USS JOHN R> PERRy DE1034 Ships Office
My_Quest = Nothing
VT_of_a_Swallow = unknown
My_Warstory = Went ashore to Diego Garcia which had a
British master.Very
pretty French school teacher.They
had natives who helped raise bannas and coconuts.Britsh master ran the whole
island.I was one of the
first saliors from the DE1034 to visit.YN2 Harry A. Kinsey
Now, the First Known American to Pull
A Remote on Diego
Garcia!
KIRBY CRAWFORD Organization:
US Army Topographic Command, BC-4
Satellite Triangulation Team Chief 1968-69 This is such
a great story, I've made a separate page for it!
I was one
of the first Brits on the Rock back in 1972, when we
lived in the houches, and first saw a toilet without
a door! For 10 months lived in Houch D1, then we
moved in to the new air con billets. There
were only 12 brits on the rock at the time, Great
time, I have missed it ever since. Tony
Curtis. R N party 1002 1972/73
As a CE2 in MCB 40, in my last
year of a nominal 4 year hitch, I participated
in the "amphibious assault" on Diego Garcia. It
was actually in March of 1971, not 1972 as
reported in your "History of the Republic", but
who's counting? I was in the
advanced party of MCB 40, departing Rhode Island
in February of 1971 on an LKA that I believe was
called the Harlan County, though that could be
wrong, although my memories of those days 28
years ago are probably sharper than those of
what happened this morning. We crossed
the Atlantic, with a Cinderella liberty call at
beautiful Monrovia, Liberia. We became Golden
Shellbacks by crossing the equator at the prime
meridian, then had an unscheduled and very short
stop at Capetown, S.Africa when a sailor popped
his appendix. We didn't even go ashore,
just pulled in so a motor launch could take him
off. We then stopped for a couple of days
and nights at Port Louis, Mauritius. The
best thing there was the British enlisted men's
club at HMS Mauritius. We picked up
130 (more or less) Seabees who had flown from
Quonset Point. Another group had flown from
Quonset to California and crossed the Pacific in
an LST. A nasty ride, but great liberty
ports! We arrived on Diego within a couple
of days of each other in early March. There was the
plantation, with a British family as overseers
and some natives (I don't know how many) as
workers. A length of anchor chain was
placed across the one coral road, about half way
around the island, so there would be clear-cut
boundaries. There was some fear that some
horny Seabees might try to take advantage of the
native women. That fear was put to rest in
the second month when our Doc did emergency
surgery on a native who had is hand cut off by
another native with a coconut knife. Seems they
were arguing over a woman. If they would
do that to each other, we definitely didn't want
to get involved. There were stories
(probably legends now) about desperate guys
backing Francine the donkey up to a stump, but I
was born and raised in New York and never
consorted with farm animals. We had to
make an amphibious landing as there were
virtually no man made improvements on our side
of the island. The first thing we
offloaded was a 15 kw diesel powered generator,
the second was a walk-in reefer, and the third
was enough beer to fill the reefer. (It had been
stored in the ships brig for the 30 day sail
from Rhode Island). We lived in tents for the
first month while Bravo Company (that was me)
built the plywood SEA huts that we would
eventually live in. The first ship load of
the main body was arriving 30 days after we did,
so we built huts for us to live in then kept
building so they would have a place when they
arrived. Meanwhile Alpha Company was busy
starting the docking facilities and 5000 ft.
runway. That first
month was great. Contrary to popular
belief there is some intelligence in the
Navy. The advanced party consisted almost
exclusively of guys who had been in a couple of
years and been overseas before. We
frequently worked 18-20 hours a day, but the
military stuff was very lax. We wore all sorts
of combinations of civilian and military
cloths. We all had hemmed OD shorts and
short sleeve shirts as our official work
uniform, but it was not uncommon to see flowery
Hawaiian shirts and floppy straw hats. The
officers were smart enough to let it go as long
as we were busting our humps, which was all of
the time. A beer tent was set up for after
hours (5 cents for a can of beer, 25 cents for
an airline bottle of booze) but they didn't get
much business 'cause everyone was too damned
tired to party. A despicable situation,
but true. Things got a little
worse when the first ship arrived. It was
loaded with boot recruits and shavetail officers
who thought we needed to polish our boots.
The nerve! We continued to work pretty
hard, however, for we were promised R&R in
Bangkok if we completed the runway by the Fourth
of July. We were only building a 5000 foot
runway for re-supply flights. We were done by June 28, so they gave us a
four day holiday weekend and the beer and food
was on Uncle Sam. We got our R&R in
August, and it was great! I left the
island in late October and got an early-out in
November since I only had two months left anyway. Although I
was oblivious to it at the time (once I backed
off all of the hard work and got back to some
serious drinking oblivion set in pretty
quickly!) there were some political
ramifications to what we were doing. First,
there had been opposition to our presence there
before we ever signed the deal with the
British. The other members of the Indian
Ocean Rim nations were concerned about the
potential for conflict between us and the
Ruskies in their placid little corner of the
world. We were picked up by a Russian
"trawler" (it was bristling with fish poles or
antennae, I'm not sure which) as soon as
we cleared the east coast and it followed us all
the way, remaining stationed off of Diego the
whole time we were there, so their concerns
might not have been totally unfounded.
Tricky Dick had placated them by giving
assurances that we were merely establishing a
communications station to complete our world
wide network. Of course, the battalion
that relieved us immediately commenced dredging
the lagoon for deeper draft vessels and
extending the runway to accommodate
B-52's. Shortly (or maybe a year or two)
after I began to get settled into civilian life,
in Tacoma, WA, I picked up a National Geographic
that had an article and pictures of Diego
natives who had been relocated, against their
will, to Port Louis and placed on welfare.
Seems they had no work and didn't speak the
language, but the Navy needed the whole island
after all. I have always considered this
one more strike against Nixon (not that he
needed any more) that has gotten little or no
attention.
Well,
it's late and I have definately rambled
on. It's great fun remembering this stuff
and sharing it with you. Great web
site! Keep in touch.
Miss Minnesota 1973 Arrives on DG!
JOLEEN BENOIT <BENDENBIJI@aol.com> 1974
USO
TOUR Special note from the Prez of
the PPDRDG: Ms. Benoit, you have no idea how
wonderful it was in the 'old days' to have the USO
Tours come to places like DG. I know
everyone who was out there in those days says "Thank You"
Hello...
I
don't know why I decide to inquire about Diego
Garcia tonight but glad I did. One of my
fondest memories of my life is a trip to Diego
Garcia---magical. I was Miss Minnesota in 1973
(of the Miss America Pageant). Six other
state representatives, Miss America (Becky
King) , and I performed a USO tour of Korea,
Japan, and Thailand in the summer of
1974. One of the stops on our tour was
Diego Garcia. I shall never forget the
mystical/magical aura of this tiny little military
island.
I
was a singer in our tour group---play a twelve
string guitar. I went on to perform in Brazil,
Japan, and eventually had a number one record
in Japan in 1990. I currently hold a
position as On- Air- Host for Shop NBC
(formerly Valuevision, Intl.)
Simply
happy to connect with others who have experienced
the "magic" of this tiny little island dropped
in the middle of the most beautiful Ocean in
the world.....the Indian Ocean... Fondly,
Joleen Benoit.
The Longest Survivors These guys
have been around so long, its impossible to put
them in the chronological lists. I mean,
which year would they belong to? All of
them!
The Mayor of
Diego Garcia! 25 Years! MELCHOR RAZON <bkndg@yahoo.com>
If that doesn't work, try his duty address:
melchor.razon.ph.ctr@diego.af.mil
Organization:
Trainsient
Alert
& The Yacht Club 1982 - 1999;
2002-Present (as of Jan 1, 2010) TCN Civilian
(Filipino)
Howdy Ted,A friend found your
website and I'm really surprised that a website
like this one existed. I'm "Mango" of the
yacht club, probably you heard about me, anyway,
the yacht club social parties are still one of
the best thing here in diego, we keep the
tradition going all these years. Been here
since 1982, I think the mangoman will leave this
place when it will starts to snow ha!ha!ha!
:) I can keep you updated on the island
life, parties, etc. if you want me to.
I'm a
filipino workin' here at the airport, probably
you even know Pineapple George, keep in touch
with us if you can and we can help you out more
on the latest things here in D.G., I enjoy your
website,Thanks, it's da mangoman :)
News from Mango in 2009; He's STILL THERE!!!
Hello
Ted, Been
awhile huh ha ha ha ,anyways, im still here and
alive and kicking, the 3 pictures above will say the
truth on mango's young look all these years,the
island magic keeps me younger everyday ha ha ha the
last one will be the last picture when I finally
leave this island ha ha ha advance photo shot just
in case he he he If
anything I can do for help to update your website I
don't mind at all,e mail me what you wanted ( like
Pictures maybe )and ill send it to you, pineapple
george gesner is in the philippines now ,heres his e
mail address g_gesner@yahoo.com
, hope you still remember him,were the fruity
friends of the original Diego Garcia Yacht Club
front runners way back,Macademia Mac of the postal
services retired as a senior chief and hes still in
contact with us hes full name is James Mc Caffrey
alias Macademia Mac ha ha ha Nice
to hear from you again Ted and always a pleasure to
help your webpage.
Oh yes, I went to Gitmo for awhile then return back
to DG 2003 til present time 2009.
Have a nice day,
Da Mangoman of the I.O.
The Previous
Mayor! 23 Years! PINEAPPLE GEORGE <g_gesner@yahoo.com> 1986-2006 TCN Civilian
(Filipino)
From 1998: Hi Ted, I have been
here for almost 14 years and it has become my
home. It is windy season now and world class
sailing is available everyday. Work is great
and we are getting used to the new C-17
Globemaster II. Still get Starlifters every
now and then but not as often as before.
I enjoy your website and will work on sending
more pictures and stories for the Yacht
Club. V/R, Pineapple George.
From 2009:
Hi
Ted! Good to hear from you. No problem. It's
ok to give my e-mail. Still play the guitar but
not as often as before. It's been great here
in the P.I. since I left DG in 2006. Staying busy
with the watersports bizniz and taking care of the
folks. You need to get on Facebook and join the DG
Yacht Club group! Lots of great pictures!
Have a Great Holiday! George
"Catch The Wind" DG 1986-2006
I used to be the Passenger Service
Supervisor in DG. Now I'm at U.S. Navy Base,
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and I work for Burns and
Roe Services Corporation as Air Terminal
Operations Supervisor (ATO)... I think I
forgot what do you look like and perhalf you
don't remember me either. I Ed the original 7
Degress Drummer. Me, Mango, Rick and some annex
21 (air terminal) guys got out of DG last Aug
'99. We're the few lucky one's who got
selected to be assigned here in GTMO to run the
Air Terminal Operations. We miss DG a lot
because people here don't party to much like the
one we used to be. I miss windsurfing so much.
Also I miss some of my friends back in DG. But,
I guess it's a part of life to move on.
I've formed a band now here in GTMO and we
called ourself as "Banana Rat Band". I couldn't
believe last week when we had our gig at the
TIKI BAR, a girl approached me and asking us if
she can join the band. She is Elly and she used
to be the singer of 7 degress South last
99-2000. I guess whoever an ex-member of 7 degress South now adays must be good.
Well, Ted all i can say is more power to your
website. Ed
NELSON C. SANTOS <nelson.santos@ca.jdsuniphase.com> 11
Years! 1982 to 1993 - Air Cargo Terminal
and MWR TCN Civilian
(Filipino, now a Canadian Citizen)
All the best thing happen in my entire
life it happens in Diego Garcia. I learn
to live alone and I learn a lot of thing that I
can imagine. Working there for eleven years is a
lot of things to learn and happen. I will
never forget that place and dont mind to go
back. Missed all my freinds who work in AIr
Cargo, Pax Terminal, MWR and final water and the
lobsters, diego burger, I missed my room in
splendidville. I can beleived Diego Garcia
on the web. A lot of beautiful things happen to
me there and bad things to. I miss the sea and
we use go out fishing every weekend. I missed
the Marina.......the dancing in turner club and
the Brit Club, I missed the Pizza the best Pizza
in the world, Specially the Pizza night at Petty
Officer club and the mongolian at Turner club. I
missed the bowling alley. A lot of party
with freinds every saturday? All I can say is
Diego Garcia is one of the most beautiful island
I the world. Anybody out there who knows me
please E-mail me, Let me know whats going on in
the Island.
The Very First American Fighting Woman BARBARA SHUPING <barbshuping@yahoo.com> 1982-1983 SPECIAL NOTE
26 Jun 07 - Barb has changed her name to
Catherine Windsor for professional
reasons. Her new email is
cwindsor59@yahoo.com.
I was there
from 26MAR82 - 24APR83. Was BM3 Shuping
then. I remember hearing that there had
been women assigned to some air crews, but I was
assigned to NSF. When I got there the only
females on the island were of the animal variety
(cats, chickens, donkeys, and the notorious land
crabs). One of
the other BM3's that I ended up working with
broke into my room the first night, but I had
just come off of 2 years on a ship so I wasn't
too worried about him. I still get a good laugh
when I think about the first time I walked into
the dining hall, I now know what all those
people feel like when they mention E.F. Hutton.
Silverware clattered to the floor and one guy
blew milk out his nose. I still miss
DG in many ways, mainly the weather and getting
to be in the water every chance I got.
Want to use something from
this site? See the TERMS
OF USE. This, and everything else I
write and every photo I produce is copyrighted by
Ted A. Morris, Jr.