Saluting a Veteran
Page 45
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DOUND for an honourable discharge in my picture above
is Scammell 38YZ44 of 37 Maritime Squadron of the Royal Corps of Transport on Pulau Brani island off Singapore . . . after an astonishing 23 years of trouble-free service. Since the end of the war the vehicle—classified in Army records as a "truck recovery wheeled medium 6 X 4"—has been on continuous "active" service" and Foreman Waterman Haji Mansor has been in charge of it all that time.
Now Haji Mansor has reached 60—and his favourite charge has been shipped away from Pulau Brani to the mainland "for disposal". Behind the decision is a file of correspondence, many years thick, in which the RCT men pleaded for—and received— a series of "reprieves" for 38YZ44; but the mechanical "old soldier" which refused to fade away is at last being replaced ... if possible!
For 38YZ44 was not only used as a recovery vehicle: its static winch has helped to land incoming vehicles and to launch the squadron's vessels; it could lift trolleys on and off slipway rails; move dinghies from ship to shore—and it could go to sea on a landing craft when the squadron's moorings had to be inspected or maintained.
And for inconsolable Haji Mansor, BEM, the rest of his service life on Pulau Brani will never be quite the same.. ..