Two oral history interviews have recently been carried out with Les Hutchinson and Ray Papworth who both joined The Royal Corps of Signals in the 1960s.
Les enlisted in 1963 and after basic training at Catterick, went on to do Special Operator training at 224 Signal Squadron. He was deployed to Cyprus between 1964 and 1967, followed by a period in Germany with 225 Signal Squadron. Whilst there Les volunteered for a Russian language course at GCHQ in Cheltenham, before returning to Germany and finishing his military career in 1972.
Ray Papworth joined the Army in 1962 and completed a three year apprenticeship before being posted to 4 Divisional Headquarters and Signal Regiment in Germany. A year later he volunteered to move to 22 SAS Signal Troop and went on operations in Borneo and Aden. In 1966 he witnessed the transition of SAS Signal Troop to 264 (SAS) Signal Squadron.
Ray’s long career included a commission into the Royal Signals in 1985 and command of 63 SAS Signal Squadron in Thorney Island as well as command of the Communications and Security Training Group at The Royal School of Signals in Blandford. He retired in 1998.
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Something apparent in the interviews was both men’s love of sport. Ray told us:
“I represented the company at rugby, football, cricket, hockey, basketball and small bore shooting. I didn’t complete a single exercise if there was a rugby match taking place during that particular deployment.”
Football was Les’ passion and he once had a trial for Sunderland, “Sunderland is a place where football is the supreme sport and everybody aspires to play for their home town. I played for a German football team when I was out there.”
As the interviews are processed, more information about the fascinating stories of Les and Ray will be posted.
