1950's Jungle Green Uniform - Malaya

[Peter Laidler]

The big workshops was on the Ayer Rajah Road in Alexandria. That was 40 Base - or Singapore Base as we called it. There were a few workshops scattered about the place for the individual units. My friend Dave Lee was at the Nee Soon sub-district workshop and there was a big Aust/NZ contingent there.

We only had the very thin tuck-in OG (olive green) shirts and our OG shorts and longs were a slightly thicker material. In the Oz summers, the UK issue very light shirts were popular of course. The green oblong with crossed kukri's was the tach sign of 17 Gurkha Inf Brigade as I recall, based up at Seremban and another armoured brigade* based at .......I forget the place but on the East coast, where the big battleships were sunk. They had a yellow oblong with a black cat. The shirts that were worn outside were called jackets but hardly anyone wore them up-country.
* Don't be mislead..... Armour there was just Dingo's, Ferrets and some Saladins. Twelve Centurions were kept in deep storage in Singapore.

BA Ferrett......, indicates a post war vehicle, POST census number. The Dingo's were xxYVxx and xxZYxx, so old census number vehicles

Just remembered it...... KUANTAN on the East Coast!

Oh, yes. The OG uniforms didn't last long. Just weeks on operations and 6 months in camp after the regular beatings by the dohbi wallah. We did have our usual leather soled ankle boots and then BOOTS, combat, the calf length boots. But for ops and military training, lightweight jungle boots made of cloth and rubber. VERY useful with speedy laces that laced up to the middle of the calf. Same again, they only lasted a few weeks but we were never short of kit really.

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