Private Steve Davies

Steve Davies served with 4 PARA Mortars with A Company and Support Company in the mid to late 1970s.

He is pictured on a parade ground of Hohner Barracks in Lower Saxony, Germany for his first Annual Camp in the British Army of the Rhine(BAOR) during June and July 1976. He recalls some of the details of this rather eventful camp:

'Hohne was an Army base which had formerly served as a training camp for the 1936 German Olympic squad, and later, a 'rest and recuperation' base for weary SS personnel.

The summer of 1976 was blisteringly hot, and it turned out to be quite an eventful camp.

During the first week, the RAF balloon team set up near the camp gates and the balloon broke its mooring and took off with 4 PARA, A Coy, PTI George Fitt still in the gondola! George exited safely, and we later heard that the Belgian Air Force had shot the balloon down over the sea!

A big exercise took place against the Fallschirmjaeger battalion and rumours of cruelty to 'prisoners' were unproven(!).

The nearby town of Gehmund provided distraction in the form of 'Kinky's Disco', until a Scottish Regiment turned up one night and Culloden was re-enacted on the dance floor. We also visited Cologne one Saturday and some decided to explore the ancient Rhine city, whilst others sought out the Eros centre.

During the second week , the lads of Support Coy parted from the rest of the Battalion to carry out live firing on Luneberg Heath ranges. We were billeted at Munsterlager.

On another occasion during the camp, I remember visiting the Belsen concentration camp - very sobering.'

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