'The Battle of Bala'There was once a Lance Corporal of Signals who went on a Rear Link Detachment to Bala North Wales. They were covering a Slalom Race by Canoeists. Everything went swimmingly until the evening when naturally the lads decided to visit the local hostelry or should I say hostilely? The Pub was full of Viet Taff (Welsh Nationalists to the uninformed) and they started passing comments about the lads who were in varying degrees of uniform mufti and civvies. The Lance corporal left the lads in the pub to walk back to the billet which was up a very pretty welsh lane (Du Glas Lane). He had no sooner settled Him self in his sleeping bag in the manger located within a quaint little Welsh barn. He was almost asleep when one of the lads came rushing in saying the rest of the lads had been attacked by the Viet Taff. The Lance corporal grabbed his discarded uniform and rushed to the aid of his fellow Signallers only to find himself in the middle of a major punch-up involving Staple belts, No 2 burners, Logs and bits of Dry Stone wall. The Lance Corporal naturally helped his friends and for his pains was hit on the head by a solid object which he later discovered to be a telegraph pole!!! All hands ended up in The Casualty dept at Wrexham Hospital. The Police turned up and they were all accused of fighting in a public place and told to turn up in Court some weeks later. When they got to Court they saw the size of the Viet Taff (who were also accused) and got the shock of their lives, they were all six foot wide and 7ft tall. The Lance Corporal was acquitted but his fellow signallers were fined £40 a piece and the Prosecutor said in his best welsh accent. “It wasn’t so much a fracas in the Du Glas Lane it was a veritable battle!!” He sounded like Lord Tonypandy. The injuries sustained were:- 55 Signal Squadron:- One giant bump on the Lance Corporal’s head, a split lip and three stitches to a head wound. One concussion which lasted a few weeks after the fracas.(a signaller) One signaller suffered from a few hard punches. The Viet Taff suffered:- One ear almost bitten off One set of indents behind the ear (probably from a staple belt). One bite to an ankle. One concussion from being hit over the head with a piece of dry stone wall. Various cuts and bruises. The lads were all disciplined by their OC who was heard to ask “Did 55 win”, to which the answer was a resounding YES. The OC was then heard to quietly say, as he dismissed them, “GOOD SHOW” So I think we can safely say 55 = 1, Viet Taff = 0  |
