My Father did his national service in the REME, I remember him saying that he was attached to the Signals I guess as part of a Light Aid Detachment? My mum remembers his service number as 22419078 and that when she sent him letters it was to Fayid. I looked up somewhere, can’t remember where now, that according to his number he would have joined up between October 1950 and Feb 1951. Before he did his national service he worked in a garage, later he had a complete change and became a Master Butcher. Bernard James Simpson.
A bit of background on Fayid while you await details re your father. Fayid was a large air base in Egypt also used to accommodate Army units. The British 1st Infantry Division was posted there after WW2. Their Wartime Service personnel were basically demobbed from there and equipment placed in storage or distributed as needed. 67th Field Regt RA (TA) were placed into "Suspended Animation" there so they must have had a REME contingent checking the guns etc as they were handed over. (photo courtesy PM family collection) Surprising that the Egyptians hadn't taken it over by the time of Suez but that's not in my history library.
Thanks for that, he said he was attached to signals who I guess would have been there too. He took up boxing whilst there, he said it got him out of some duties.
One of the Senior Officers in 67th Field Regt met his wife there. She was in British Intelligence so yes there must have been some signals presence there.
At 18+ they were not much older than Army Cadets back home. We were very disappointed when they stopped conscription. The ones already in thought we were mad! My next door neighbour volunteered for the Paras. He saw action at Suez. He did twelve years coming out as a Sergeant, having boxed for his unit and spent time in the jungle in Borneo and Sarawak. Along with the Ghurkhas. He taught his younger brothers to drop and roll and jump out of bedroom windows onto the lawn. Being five years younger I jumped off the air raid shelter in the garden about 4ft lower! He gave me a Para Smock (pic) aged 14
Seems everyone is Christmas Shopping! If you dont mind should we examine which part of Royal Signals he would possibly have been supporting. My uncle was in 3 then 4AFS (Air Formation Signals) working with ten line telephone cables and exchanges mainly between desert airfields before moving to 3GHQ Signals at Maadi near Cairo. (All Signals cables led to Maadi) He became an underground cable specialist and was involved in laying a new cable from Cairo to Jerusalem. 4AFS seem to have laid and grafted in a new cable down the Qattara Depression from Maadi to Mersa Metru at the time of the Battles of Alamein, used by the LRDG to telephone their HQ amongst other things. Here is a link ref Air Formation Signals as he may have been supporting them particularly at Fayid right next to the Suez Canal. It looks like they might have still been around in the 1950's. It might also be of interest to other members who could possibly help you. WW2 Middle East - Air Formation Signals Merry Christmas!
