Royal Army Medical Corps.

[FITGUN]

Nat/Service,  1947-1948  RA,  all  non- coms  carryed  a short  ( swagger stick? )  i never  found  out  why for  sure, one story  said  when  blowing up  the  gun`s  to stop  the  enemy  capturing  them  the  stick  would  be  put  in  loop  of  the  last  lanyard  to  pull  it  easier,  if  you  where  in  wooden  huts  it  was  used  to rattle  on  along  the  side of  the hut  to  make  sure  you  where  awake!,  the  non-coms  had  to  learn  some   kind  of  stick  drill ( L/ bombardiers  up  to  Battery Serg/majors ).

[r973g]

Hi FITGUN
As a Gunner N.C.O. myself at the end of the war I never knew of N.C.O's, (not non-coms, they were non-combatants) carrying swagger sticks and they certainly were not official at that time, I did carryone in the 50's as a Regt'l instructor,mainly to whackthe desk to wake some up after a 'hard days night'

[FITGUN]

Hi  r973g,  I  joined  the  92 HAA REGIMENT  RA, Immingham  Dock, near  Grimsby,  in  08/1947  after  my  6 weeks  basic  training,  i  can  assure  you  even  the  lowly  lance/bombardiers  carried  a  short  stick,  i  can`t  forget  because  we  would have  liked  to  stick  the stick  where  the  sun  don`t  shine!!,    the  C/O  was      Colonel R.O. Crompton,   02/1948  the  regiment  went  to Tripoli  and  i  went  on   a  6 month  gunfitter  course  at  Bordon.  i  nearly  always  use  non/com   for  n/c/o`s,  com  being  short  for  commissioned,  the  R/S/M  had  a  pace  stick.  i  never  saw  any  of  my  mate`s  in  the  regiment  again.