40s and 50s Memories
murdered.
After speaking to the police I left the murder
scene and was immediately pounced on by a
television crew. I was experienced enough not
to be tricked into saying anything unwise. Asked
what the army would feel about the murder, I
said that we were all regular soldiers and we
would carry on doing our job. Asked if I was
angry about the murders I just said "Yes, very".
When I returned to England I continued to work
in Public Information at the Ministry of Defence
in Whitehall. Then, returning to Regimental
Headquarters Royal Artillery at Woolwich, I took
over the duties of publisher and editor of the
Regiment's monthly magazine 'Gunner'. This
was in the days before desktop publishing and
was very labour intensive on the production side.
There were many hours spent proof reading.
In addition, articles had to be obtained from
all the units and sports clubs of the Regiment.
Nevertheless, there was great job satisfaction
in the work, particularly when a monthly issue
had been completed and dispatched to readers.
After three years with 'Gunner' I returned to Army
Public Information, this time to the Headquarters
of the NATO Allied Command Europe Mobile
Force at Seckenheim-Mannheim in Southern
Germany. The Force was a Brigade Group, with
varying national contingents, designed to act as
a 'fire brigade' to go to the flanks of NATO, in the
event of a threat from the Warsaw Pact forces.
Whilst I was with the Force we had exercises
in Sardinia, Denmark, UK (Salisbury Plain) and
Arctic Norway. The exercise in Norway was
quite spectacular. We flew out to Arctic Norway
in giant American troop carriers. The aircraft I
travelled in had two very large tracked Armoured
Personnel Carriers abroad. I travelled on the top
of one of these as there was more room than
in the bucket seats around the aircraft. Looking
out of the windows of the aircraft one could see
the other giants of the sky flying with us.
Living in Arctic Norway has its moments. One
night there was a cloudless sky and I saw a
great curling swirl of millions and millions of
stars. It was quite breathtaking. I think it must
have been the Milky Way, the galaxy of which
we are a part.
One morning in Norway I went to the area from
which the Norwegian fighter aircraft operated.
First one heard the roar of aircraft engines from
inside a snow covered mountain. Then hangar
doors slid open in the side of the mountain
and two fighters, in echelon, thundered down
an invisible runway and then shot up into the
sky. The process was reversed as the fighters
returned from their mission. The aircraft engines
were heard first, then the planes swept in from
the sky and ran down the runway. Doors in the
mountain opened and in went the aircraft, the
noise of their engines fading away to nothing;
the doors had closed behind them. It was real
'Hall of the Mountain King' stuff!
In 1980, I married Major Noeleen Smythe. She
retired in 1989 as Colonel N. M. Braisby MBE,
RRC, Qaranc (retd). After my time with the Allied
Command Europe Mobile Force, I returned
to the appointment of Editor of 'Gunner' at
Regimental Headquarters RA at Woolwich. After
some years in the post the appointment was
changed from that of a serving officer to that of
a retired one. Therefore I retired and applied for
the retired officer post. I was successful in my
application. I continued in the post until I retired
at age 65.
In 1984, following six years of study in the
evenings and at weekends, I was awarded a
BA Degree from the Open University, in History
and Social Studies.
I have been extremely fortunate in having
had such a long and interesting career in the
army. I feel that my years at King's gave me
the grounding for my life in matters intellectual,
physical and above all spiritual.
S. P. BRENNAND
Bishop Fox 1951
Sean Brennand left King's in December 1951
having been a member of Bishop Fox House
under George Morgan. He followed the science
stream which kept his options open to join the
Navy which had been his ambition from an
early age, gaining 'A' Levels in maths, physics
and chemistry. He became House Prefect in
1951, and he captained 2nd XV rugby and 2nd
15