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6 FES going to 39 CER

Glad to read some news about my old unit, 6 FES. I served 5 years there, a long time ago and then went on the supplementary list. Back in 1969, Vince Laroque was on the same GMT course as me, in Nanaimo. I was top bunk, he was bottom. I am sure Alex Chismore was also in the unit then and left shortly afterwards.

The reg force " I Staff " during my time there were CWO Tommy St. Hilaire, WO Bud McKinnon ( whom i regret reading about his death) and Sgt Bill Duham. I also was sad to hear Angus Munn passed away.

In the other threads, i came across some names from when I was called out to Germany, and I post over there after. Geez, I'm getting old.
 
joelCAMEL said:
In the other threads, i came across some names from when I was called out to Germany, and I post over there after. Geez, I'm getting old.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately we all are my friend...

Chimo
 
Well Joe camel,
Vince Larouque took the opie dopie and crossed over to the dark side and now is a Lt/Col.

Alex Chismore is the Pipe Major of the Unit Pipe band.
Jerry Silva was CO for quite a few years and now is the Honoury Col.
of the Rocky Ram @#$'s

Lt/Col Bill Dow passed away a few years back,Brian Seward is still with us and mounting gong's for all.

Regards

Nick
 
Jerry Silva was CO for quite a few years and now is the Honourary Col.
of the Rocky Ram @#$'s
Click to expand...

Silva has had a pretty good career. After serving as CO 6 Fd, he was the BC brigade commander.

He also served as the Colonel Commandant for the Canadian Military Engineers (2000-2005)
 
i remember a story about Jerry Silva when he was still the no-nonsense SSM; he got into the back of a 3/4 ton for a ride down the road at cultus and he told one of the new recruits, who still could not recognize who all the main characters were yet, to slide down the bench. the recruit told him to get another seat. Silva just pointed to the the crown and laurel wreath on his combat sleeve and said 'move' and the recruit moved...a very big voice in a compact frame. you were always on your toes around him and Angus Munn. many thanks to all for the posts on Col. Silva.

i believe Cpl Laroque went to being officer candidate Laroque near the end of my time in the unit. you sound like you know where all the bodies are buried. Dave Carriere, Greg Friskee and Phil Brewer were also on that same GMT course. Dave Fisher was my boss. Barry Dutour joined a year after us. whatever happened to them and to John Leggatt?

i went back to the armory last year and was surprised to see Ed Dyck still there. he already had his 10 year CD when i joined and i'm 55 now. and i heard Gary Hampton returned to the unit.
 
Dave Carriere is in Alberta,Greg Friskie is driving bus' in N.Van,
Barry Detour I have not seen for yonk's,Phil Brewer is living in
Kamloops,Dave Dyke just passed away of a heart attack.
Owen Simpson work's for CN out of North Van driving the Whistler
tourist train,Steve Campbell joined the RCMP but was pensioned out as he ended up with a bum ticker.

Oh my Garry's back  ::)

Here's a story about Jerry Silva.
We were on Mil.Con down in Ft.Lewis and for some reason we did not have enough sprog's for kitchen duty so us older lot had to fill in.

Any way Julian Syme had pulled it something like 3 day's on the trot and was promised the next day off.So  when the picket came and woke him he let lose a good Sapper tirade,picket bugger's off and then comes back about 5 min. later ,boy did Syme let him have it explaining he has the day off so the picket bugger's off.

Next thing the light goes on in the tent and there's Silva standing there in his p.j.'s giving Syme a blast,now who could take that seriously the rest of us in the tent buried our head's in our fart sack's trying to stifle our laughter,I'll never forget that one,bloody funny!! ;D

Or the time he caught us planning to bronze a yard stick and mount it across the hood of his jeep,he was not amused but gave us an A for effort.
 
I remember all those guys. My memory being what it is, my bad on Dave Dyck. we had 2 Stewarts, Jim and T.K.; and 2 Dycks. Mixed up their names and am sad to hear about Dave's passing, just as i mentioned his name. I would have thought Wayne Laycock would have still been around there. He often said to everybody that he was going to be the C.O. there one day.

Other than Angus Munn surviving a delayed detonation charge, there was only 1 other mishap during my time there. We were building Bailey long past sunset. Everyone was dead tired and couldnt see anything in the dark. All of a sudden, one of the new guys, who was attaching the sway bars, started to jump around, holding his hand. Turns out he could not line up the bar to attach to either the panel or transom (its been a long time since i was on the gang) and he was using his finger to find where the hole was, and some else had bumped against the swaybar. I saw him a few years later as we were in the same class at UBC. He showed me where his finger was severed off and he said he receives a disability pension from the government.

I dont know what I hated more, being on the transom party and trying navigate through the panel or on the panel party, holding it steady as the pinman yells " up in the back " or " up in the front ", and everyone's thinking " just get the f*ing thing in ".


 
As far as I know, TK is still in the reg force, I last saw him a couple of years ago during a seminar on IED, with some of our new NATO allies at the mess here in Victoria.
 
Stewart T.K. was usually one of the pinmen. I think Kirk was on our 1969 GMT course too and there were a lot of people from that course that stayed in for more than 3 years.
 
As for Angus Munn he became Dr,it was the det's that blew as they were disposing of excess demo stores and he ended up with the shrapnel from the det's in his bod.
He ended up as a very successful Dr. and ended up as the personnal Dr. when ever her nib's the Queen came to Canada and I think he passed away a few years back.

Yup T.K. is still in ore should be retiring soon.
The other Stewart was big Jim,he stayed in until the retirement age limit caught up with him.

As for Laycock,he left under a very dark cloud,collected monies for a Unit jacket and you guessed no jacket.

Camel pm me and I'll give you Vince Laroques contact info.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Angus_Munn

I knew Munn re-mustered from the Black Watch but never knew he was one of the first combat divers. I visited him in the hospital after the explosion and he was drinking a beer in his bed. He said to me, " I'd offer you one but this is strictly for medicinal purposes".

Speaking of beer, Dave Carriere was the one that gave the JR Ranks Mess a wet bar in 1969. He did the renovations, obtained the liquor license and later conned the officers in giving up the room next to it to enlarge the Mess.
 
Well now the Unit has gone full circle,the rank's is where it was back in 1912/13,Snr/NCO's and Officer's are the same.
What was the rank's is now the Unit Museum.
 
Cheez... you've been around & waited a long time ;)

CHIMO!
 
geo said:
Cheez... you've been around & waited a long time ;)

CHIMO!
Click to expand...

Smart arse. ;) ;D

When the Sappers built the Armouries back in 1912/13 the Mess' were up stair's,the rank's having the larger room with the fire place and the Officer's and Snr.NCO's sharing a Mess and now nearly 100 yrs later it has come full circle.
 
Heh... just yanking your chain a little Earl.

;D
 
Spr.Earl said:
When the Sappers built the Armouries back in 1912/13 the Mess' were up stair's,the rank's having the larger room with the fire place and the Officer's and Snr.NCO's sharing a Mess and now nearly 100 yrs later it has come full circle.
Click to expand...

i bet that was a happy event, back in the day, when the officers told the sappers to vacate the larger room with the fireplace.
 
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