Suez, A Regimental Wake

The entire battalion lived under canvas despite the heat and sand.

In February 1952, the 1st Battalion The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers was stationed in the Suez Canal Zone in Egypt. The battalion had been rushed there in late 1951 with the rest of the 3rd Infantry Division following action by the elected nationalist Egyptian Wafd party to revoke the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936. The treaty had allowed the United Kingdom to station forces along the Canal to protect the UK’s vital interest in the short sea link to oilfields in the Arabian Gulf and the British Empire east of Suez. The Battalion’s base was a tented camp planted on a stark stretch of desert sand some nine miles from the canal itself.

For no specific reason, a Beating of Retreat was planned for the evening of 6 February. The ‘elite’ of the British community in the Zone (mainly military) had been invited, including to the Officers Mess party afterwards. Early in the morning, to great consternation, there was a rumour that HM King George had died. The Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel (later Major General) Denis Moore asked the Divisional Commander - Major General Sir Hugh C Stockwell KBE CB DSO - for advice. He said that the party should go ahead because first, it was a rumour and secondly there was no telephone network. Moreover, there was no other means by which the guests could be contacted to advise them of any change.

However, the early morning news brought confirmation of the King's death making necessary an amended programme. The Drums unearthed black drapes for their drums and the Pipes spent the day practising the lament ‘Flowers of the Forest‘. That evening the Drums and Pipes were at their magnificent best and the event seemed strangely appropriate. The guests were then guided to the Officers Mess to be offered a ‘cocktail’ - the normal party drink. The President of the Mess Committee (PMC), Major ‘Stoogie’ Cousins, had personally supervised the mixing of his favourite formula in a zinc bath; his cocktail was christened ‘Heavy Drop’ for all too obvious reasons. Thus, the Battalion marked the passing of the HM King and the accession of HM The Queen in a memorable, regimental way. It was hoped that the guests forgave the officers for the hangovers that ‘Heavy Drop’ had promised.