Memories of Christmas

Christmas 1960 I was 19 and a young Royal Marine just 6 months out of training and on my first commission. In September that year I had been posted to 45 Commando in Aden and everything was new and exciting. Our main base was at Little Aden which was a hutted camp set in acres of sand and very hot. We also had a detached base some 90 miles north called Dhala after a small Arab village nearby and it was there I went off too after a few weeks, to join up with up with "A" Troop who were already there.

This was what we had been trained for, the armed convoy spent a long hot day traveling through deserts and then up into the mountain range which formed the boarder with the Yemen and as I found out this was the main route in or out.

Dhala was a small fortified tented camp set on a hill top with the village , which was out of bounds to us, a few miles away. As you will see it was quite a mountainous area and the weather was a lot cooler that the heat of Aden and our working days were spent patrolling the mountains looking for any insurgents.

At Christmas we were split into two groups, one of which would have Christmas off and the other new year. The reason being that at least half of us would be sober in case we came under fire. I was off for Christmas.

We started celebrating on Christmas Eve and the went of for at least two days with spells of people retiring to bed only to return to the fray after a few hours.
At lunch time on Christmas day our group all formed up and marched down to the galley for dinner. The biggest threat came from the hawks who would take the dinners off your plate as you walked form the galley (the tin shack on the left) to the mess tent on the on the right.

A very Happy Christmas to you all