happy days..we had good times there..some of the best ever..true mates like hoppy 41. jim brown roger 20 potter evens49. 49 tried to sell lots of the boys when they fell asleep on the table.so many names i could mention but i would run out of space
A typical battle cry of marauding Mongolians in the 13th century was, "Wine, Women and Wan chai!" Traditionally, Wan Chai Warriors were those that faced many a battle on the mean streets of Wan Chai. An organised foray into the warm night air where the jumble of neon signs in Cantonese and English cast an orange-yellow light over the evening streets.
As a boys' night out it was a routine nocturnal journey round a small part of the city. It had its own order of activities and it involved a set of routines. The first port of call was normally the infamous China Fleet Club, shown below
I wasn't really a Wan Chai Warrior in the strictest sense, but what I would like to say is that Hong Kong was my favourite posting, having served there with 1 RWF, 1 R HAMPS and the Queen’s Ghurkha Signal Regiment.
We were in Honiton when we first heard the news that the Battalion was being posted to Hong Kong. I was serving in ‘B’ Company and we were allocated Erskine Camp in the New Territories as our base camp for the first part of the tour. The other occupants of the camp were Sp Company. For the second part of the tour we were moved to Gun Club Barracks.
I have so many memories of all my tours there. For instance, in Erskine Camp there were so many occurrences of people arriving back at the camp after a night out in Kowloon who couldn't afford to pay the taxi fare that a taxi fund was produced by the hierarchy. This was held in the Guardroom and managed by the Guard Commander. The idea behind this was that those that returned back to camp penniless would be able to sign for the cash and pay the taxi driver his due remuneration.
Unfortunately, this backfired somewhat as people were actually signing for the cab fare before they left and used it to get into Kowloon!
Each "Wanchai Warrior" had the names of the others tattooed on various parts of their bodies,1 of us who shall remain nameless had it tattooed on his butt cheek,a good time was had each Friday whenever possible,starting off in the China Fleet Club,for cheap beer and Singapore Slings then wandering outside to make our way to the High Class bars of Wanchai,and many a time we did so in the form of Rickshaw races,which i might add the rickshaw pullers were full of enthusiasm for, the list which i think is correct is as follows
Ianto 10,Percy,Dobbs,12,05,31,36,38 that is what i can make out from my tattoo as unfortunately like my memory it has faded with age,i shall leave others to fill the names in which numbers are who,but what a place to spend ones early 20,s in
Oh what fond memories. The animals bar in the Fleet Club, anyone remember the girl that walked in there and was ushered out at a rapid pace. i believe that there were two or three Zulu warriors going on there at that time.49 the famous waiter who, when you flaked out always made sure your money was safe. Not enough space to write everything but like you Will my tattoos are fading.
Very fond memories, whoever passed out first was taken for a tatoo and woke up in the morning with a very sore head and a chunk of toilet roll stuck to the tat to soak up the blood. Don't believe Bob, he was the king of the Wanchai Warriors.
Don't believe Bob, he was the king of the Wanchai Warriors.
Funny you should say that Thom. Derick May introduced Bob to myself and a few other sprogs in 1 Platoon lines on Dai's Day 1980. We sat in a room having a few beers, whilst Derick regaled us with Bob's Wanchai activities, which allegedly involved the selling of sleeping soldiers!!!!!!
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Originally Posted by Thom15
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