Veterans unveil new exhibition at York Army Museum

Commemorating the Aden campaign of 1958-1967 the exhibit will be officially opened by veterans of The Yorkshire Regiment in the York Army Museum in Tower Street in York city centre at 11am.

Entitled ‘Aden – Our regiments in South Arabia’, the exhibition features the three successive deployments of the Prince of Wales’s Own Regiment of Yorkshire (PWO) to Aden in Yemen.

The 1st Battalion The Prince of Wales’s Own Regiment of Yorkshire (1 PWO) first deployed in August 1958 on the declaration of the state of emergency. Initially, the battalion was engaged in securing routes in the interior. Next, they supported the police in the colony. Garrison duties in hostile tribal areas within the Western Protectorate occupied the majority of the remainder of the tour, which ended in April 1959.

The second tour was a one-year emergency tour, the battalion arriving in September 1965. The situation continued to deteriorate. 1 PWO operated both in the colony and in the interior. During the tour two soldiers were killed and 5 seriously wounded.

In June 1967 the battalion returned at short notice, the colony was close to siege, terrorists were active in the ‘crater’ and beyond and rebels effectively controlled the interior. The battalion left in October. Two soldiers died during the tour and there were multiple injuries.

Michael Dillon from Huntington in York, who’s striking image is featured in the exhibition, is expected at the opening.

Then aged 34 and a company sergeant major, he was tasked to accompany the political officer, Mr Meynell on his tour around the tribes in the Radfan mountains.

He said: “It was a very new experience. I had been in Malaya, working in deep, primary jungle and with the Orang Asli aborigines, but it was a very different environment that I found in the Radfan mountains. I felt the heat, and thought I was exposed to high ground and unable to communicate because I was the only person without ability to speak Arabic. We were flown by RAF helicopter to Jebel, where we were met by a tribal group, and greeted with a cup of sweet tea served in old cups and laced with mint.

“After the conference we went into the Sheik’s house where we were to sleep. A cloth was spread out at the middle of the room and large plates of rice were produced, and lots of smaller plates with meat in sauce. We were invited to tuck in, by using the right hand, and fingers to pluck at the plates. I have never been a rice lover, not even in Malaya, so I found it a bit strange. After the meal was cleared away we all stretched out to sleep. I was tired so had no problem and I felt safe in the Sheik’s house, but I was very aware of the dissidents in the Radfan mountains who would see me as in intruder.

“I remember Aden crater town as a place to be very aware of grenades being thrown from alleyways, from buildings and the heights around the crater rim and always at nighttime. In spite of being aware, I was caught out by being wounded by a British 36 grenade tossed by a dissident at the Landrover.

“I was sitting at the back gate with the flap down, when I heard the cap exploding in the tossed grenade, so shouted “grenade” and leapt from the vehicle in an instant and landed in the gutter, the driver accelerated away, and the grenade fortunately missed the Landrover, but landed on the crest of the road, near where I was lying in the gutter. Luckily the main explosion went upwards, I was only hit by some shrapnel in my back and was able to get up and give chase.”

During the 1965-66 tour, Peter Blyth from Hull was a 24 year-old, Rifle Platoon/Support Platoon Sergeant. “I remember particularly the bustle and noise of the Crater and mainly the friendly people. But also the heat, prickly heat rash, the inevitable ‘tummy’ problems and sadly the death and funeral of Pte Fred Langrick. Up country in ‘66, it was even hotter, the relative silence in the mountains and of course, missing England win the World Cup!”.

“In the ‘67 tour and now a 26 year old Ant-Tank Platoon Sergeant, I remember it being a short notice deployment, still hot, our billets on Maala Main and the interminably boring patrols in Tawahi. For me, it’s great to see our efforts being remembered in the Museum, but it also brings back some sadness and memories of my deceased room mates; Sergeants Geoff Coward, George Potter, Frank Watkinson, Pip Hall and Tony Bostock.”