Part 2 from Al Ditter. Enjoy.
Equally detrimental, and embarrassing, was the manner in which the new unit was perceived by the rest of the army. The very idea of a ‘mechanized commando‘ was preposterous and during the 1970 brigade concentration at Sennelager a popular ditty, sung in falsetto, began to circulate. “Knit one, purl two, commando, yoo-hoo” captured the idiocy of the concept, which did not escape the members of the new unit who, in their newly-issued maroon berets, bore the slur with grudging good nature . . . especially when it came from someone in a black beret with a Medical Branch cap badge. AldiAnother view of the Centurion tank.
The final appearance of the jeep-mounted 106mm recoilless rifle. Immediately after the parade
the gun was mounted in the cargo hatch of the M113 APC and a year later was replaced by the TOW.
'C' Company 2i/c Captain Al Ditter and CQMS WO Vince Spicer.
Maroon berets were approved for field dress but not for walking-out dress.
(In one company, for example, the company commander was Black Watch,
the 2ic was Canadian Guards, the CSM was Queen’s Own Rifles,
the platoon commanders were QOR, PPCLI and RCR, the CQMS was Canadian Guards.)
Cheers,
Dan
