A Great 1st Bn Story - Guatemala Jones

[ap1]

This is an extract of an edited email I received from Don Donovan, who as a staunch member of the 2nd battalion in Malaya, kept a close eye on the shenanigans of 1st Battalion in the West Indies:


"I am writing this as I was quite surprised about the lack of information on the plane crash with the married families off Newfoundland. Another incident in 1953/54 concerns one "Guatemala" Jones of the 1st Battalion.

Jones was AWOL for about 9 months and was in Guatemala for this amount of time.When he returned to the 1st Bn he was stuck in the pokey and re-kitted out with a brand new 1157 etc, and had to bear the cost of this new kit.

His defence was he had been abducted whilst in Belize and spirited across the border to Guatemala. For some unknown reason (To me at least), he had less than a week in detention, this was possibly to debrief him and sort his kit out. It appears that his defence was believed to be true by the powers that be!!

I am firmly of the opinion that in truth he had gone trotting to Guatemala with the love of his life. On his return he spoke fluent Spanish (with a strong Welsh accent) and did not have a lot to say about his sabbatical.

In conclusion I wonder if any former members of the 1st Bn know more details than I have listed. I do not know what happened to him since.

(Now here comes the rub...al)

As a point of interest not one B.O.R defected to the communist side in Malaya during the "emergency" and a lot more troops were engaged in Malaya. So it would seem this defection is another "First for the First (RWF)".

Does any one out there have more info on "Guatemala Jones"
Regards Don"

Brilliant :laugh:

[Gwyn Nicholas]

This post took me back a few years and I think Thom 15 will concur when he comes on the Forum next. About a hundred years ago when the Battalion was in Belize keeping out the invasion forces of Guatamala (actually it was early 70's and most of the base rats were sunning themselves on the Keys). A small band of brothers made up of some members of B company, Pioneers, Recce Platoon and a detatchment of Signallers were sent to Punta Gorda to build a bridge in the Rainforest for the forest people . I believe it was named the moho bridge (please feel free to correct). Anyway at the end of the project we all went into town for a few Beers. Prior to the "coctail party" we had discussed the afore mentioned Guatamala Jones wandering if it was a true story or an old soldiers tale. Later the "coctail party" became heated (as they do) and some sparring took place (Queensbury rules totally ignored). Long story a little shorter, Dilwyn and myself decided we were not going back to base camp and in fact were going to do "A Guatamala Jones "
and leg it. We went down to the pier/jetty dived into the water and swam to a small boat anchored a few metres out. As we tried to get the boat started, a copper came down to the pier so we did a Garrisons Geurillas move over the side. As it happened there was no fuel in the boat and the second dip in the briny had started to sort our heads out. We never got to follow our hero the few miles away in Guatamala, but it's nice to know he really did exist. Thanks for a wonderful memory recall.

[Thom15]

Wow !!! Gwyn, as I was reading Al's thread it sent me straight back to that wonderful time in PG (Belize). Now that you have told the story it sends shivers down my spine. I wonder what we would have done if that engine had started. On the swim back to the dock we also realized we were completely surrounded by thousands of jelly fish.
We spent the night as "guests" (really, just guests) at the local jail. No blankets or pillows and the cell door wide open. I went to find something to rest my head on and came back with a train axle plus wheels. How I carried it to the cell I don't know because in the morning neither of us could lift the dang thing.
Who the heck was it that first started telling us the story of Guatamala Jones?
Good times eh Nick, they also had some fun back at camp which we found out about on our return.
It was nearly Guatamala Nick and Guatamala Thom15.

[ap1]

Superb Boys:

D'yer know what? this would make a great film titled "Guatemala Jones", I envisage it being made by a small independent Welsh film company.

I wonder if this boy is still alive, by god he must have some tales to tell.

I will do some digging

[tom33]

the barmaid at the orange grove in san mayo told us her dad was a welchman.(good looking girl) but she must have been quite dim.she prefered hoppy rather than me.i looked for her next time i was in holdfast camp but she was gone and i was not able to find her.mind you on that tour i did have to look after young nic.(he used to be a nice boy)but then he met hoppy and me.good days good times.apart from hoppy doing in his legs in wonder if it was nic that kicked him while he was loosing at volly ball

[Gwyn Nicholas]

the barmaid at the orange grove in san mayo told us her dad was a welchman.(good looking girl) but she must have been quite dim.she prefered hoppy rather than me.i looked for her next time i was in holdfast camp but she was gone and i was not able to find her.mind you on that tour i did have to look after young nic.(he used to be a nice boy)but then he met hoppy and me.good days good times.apart from hoppy doing in his legs in wonder if it was nic that kicked him while he was loosing at volly ball

I would just like to clarify that when Tom says "he used to be a nice boy" , he means I was not a beer swilling lout lusting after every young (or old ) maid in sight. I would not like it thought that i was the type of person that a number of members of this forum would have gladly sold to the Yanks in Hong Kong for the price of a few beers. (they would have been lucky to get enough for a shandy anyway!)

[Clive Rees (08)]

Hey Tom was it the same pier that you dived off when we were there and you came out of the water covered in blood?

If I remember right you had you had dived onto some steel which was hidden underneath the water.

Regards

Clive

[tom33]

i was very lucky..it was my head that hit the steel..upset hoppy though he had to buy the beer.all night as i remember..i never had a drink problem. i used to drink fall down no problem.

[Clive Rees (08)]

Hey Tom was it the same pier that you dived off when we were there and you came out of the water covered in blood?

If I remember right you had you had dived onto some steel which was hidden underneath the water.

Regards

Clive

Mixing my Toms up here, it should have been aimed at Dilwyn, he dived off the pier!

Mind you Tom if you did the same as Dilwyn and landed on your head!!

Regards

Clive

[Thom15]

Actually, Clive, it was a different dock, rather than pier closer to the town/village centre. However, I still have the battle scars from the pier incident. I remember asking one of the locals at PG if it was safe to dive off the pier, of course he said yes. After slicing my chest open I visited the local "hospital" and they did not know how to do stitches so just stuck some butterfly patches to close up the wound. Not a pretty sight with my left nipple hanging off and blood everywhere.
Mind you i've had some milage from that wound, such as "I was attacked by a lion, so would you like to feel my scars". Great pick up line.