Fighting Men of Rhodesia ep96 | Sgt. Fergus O'Brien | part 1
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ม.ค. 2022
- Fergus served in 14 Troop, 3 Commando for most of his time in the Rhodesian Army. This was during the climax of the bush war during which time he had 33 operational jumps and about 100 helicopter deployments into action. He later joined the Selous Scouts and ran tracking and survival courses, teaching bushcraft skills at Wafa Wafa.
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Sgt. O'Brien was a brilliant instructor, I learned a lot from him.
John at 29:40 you say the RAR recognised your professionalism. In '79 I was standing in for our radiographer at Gatooma Hospital when a Black RAR Lt came in having injured his arm in a vehicle accident. I did the X-rays and while waiting for them to develop I was chatting to him. He had been one of the first to go through officer training and had been posted as army liaison with a bunch of Pfumo Revanu at Gokwe. These Auxilieries had gone renegade and been dealt with by Fire Force. I asked him where he was going next. He said to me; "I would give up my pips to become a member of RLI Fire Force". I asked him why and said:"they're the best soldiers in the World"
High praise indeed.
I think its very amazing that the men in RLI would make more "combat jumps" in a week than most men did in WW2 in four years. On a side not very proud to say Richmond Va has its own RLI but of course completely different history "Richmond Light Infantry". Great stories! Deo Vindice
You Rhodesians are great guys. Never met nicer people. Salute you from Fernspäh 100.
So young, so fearless!!! This was amazing to listen to. Our soldiers were and always will be the finest in the world. Huge respect to you all!!!!
Cannot believe how young you guys were (Same for us Saffers in SWA/Angola at about the same time).
The most striking thing about all the photos of that time is how "up for it" all those "kids" were. You NEVER see any sort of doubt in the eyes.
Excellent chat with Fergus, thanks John. Most of the anecdotes are shared by all 4 Commandos. The story of the jump pistols is so true. The Star 9mm was hopeless. You could almost see the round leave the barrel. “They have the faces of boys, but they fight like lions” Stay safe gents.
@@dreamdiction Ja, statistics are great but the real deal is the experience of people who used both pistols in the field and I can confirm, as will most other Rhodesians, that the Browning was a far better option than the Star
@@pamberinehondo9447 correct...Star 9mm was a POS compared to the Browning HP.
Excellent interview.
As a schoolboy in Churchill my peers and I were all champing at the bit to get into the fight…..which ended while I was in form 4.
It’s only later that we realized the sacrifice these young lions lay down to protect our lives which continued virtually normal.
A huge debt of gratitude….from my generation to yours for everything you did to keep the country and its people safe.
Ndatenda gakulu 🙏🏻🙏🏻 warriors of a past season…..
Fergus mentioned "sleeping with one eye open". We had set up an ambush some miles downstream from the Kariba dam. I handed over to my bum buddy and fell asleep. Some time later he gave me a thump. As I woke up and opened my eyes there was the sound of hooves beating on the rock hard ground and the next thing something fairly large jumped right over me. Gave us all quite a fright. Don't know what it was .......but things like that happen in Africa.
Another awesome interview. Thank you guy's. Rhodesians Never Die .
If there could ever be a Rhodesian Bootcamp, I'd be the first to sign up.
It was not necessary to fire more than three round bursts with K CAR. The HE was very effective in kopjes or hard ground but not that effective with thick vegetation or soft ground like mealie fields. We had to do at least one kill every three rounds. The ammo links and copies were counted after every action if possible and compared to enemy KIA. I think us gunners were good because we knew that the less people on the ground shooting at you, the more chance there was to going home safe.
So true Beaver, and we knew on the ground that the more YOU hit from the K CAR the less were shooting at us and the more chance WE had of going back to the JOC safe 👍💪
I have two questions:
How long was the gunner training and what was in it ?
How did shooting with (i guess 20mm) effect the aircraft ?
Always interested in how other countries do and did things.
Thanks for your time.
I was on an OP in Murewa, when 4 CTs tried crossing a mielie field, and 'K' car came over and slotted them.... It was like watching a movie, except it was a damn sight more lethal!
@@mrd7067 This will be one for Mr Shaw to answer as he had so had so much personal experience in the role of K CAR gunner. We were just glad that they were there and we had a day glow in our hats 😂
Good to see you Fergus, great memories. Trust all is well your end.
Brilliant! Discussing photos is a great way to expand the formula, definitely worth expanding on going forward. And always great to get insight and context into those precious snippets of history. Well done and keep 'em coming : )
Thanks a ton!
I have to agree. Love the content. I'm a 34 year old American and wish born in an earlier time to participate in the fight against communism and preserving western Christian culture.
It looks as though the fight will be coming to us again. USA is rhyming what happened to Rhodesia and South Africa. International communism is using the same tactics they used in Rhodesia and South Africa.
Of all the interviews, I have enjoyed this one the most! You guys were exceptional soldiers! Huge respect and Salute!
My admiration respect for you guys is beyond expression.
Another great episode Fergus and John. I think it was John Schotz, from 2 Commando on the front of the Contact book. Apologies if I have spelled John's surname incorrectly.
I would like to thank your guest speaker Fergus. Very interesting and greatly appreciated.
Great pics
Absolutely great. Great format
Great to hear!
Excellent. Thoroughly enjoyed listening to the memories shared. Paul Dabbs 11 Troop July 1979 to Oct 1980.
True heroes. Reality brought true. I am nothing compared to you guys.
Great interview, many thanks, looking forward to Pt. 2
Keep well always.
I was in RhACR and can relate the story of the Ferrets from 1976 and Elands grom 1976 regards zCharlie Simpson
Nice format, will be nice to see more like this
Noted!
@@fightingmenofrhodesia I could listen to these stories all day.
How did you avoid getting noshed by hyenas, lions etc in the bush?
@@cyberphox1 some guys didn't....just sayin'.
Thoroughly enjoyed this episode, thanks. Fergus well remembered from Melsetter. Good to see these two warriors having a dop together also
Our pleasure!
Ie was Bud Cockcroft and Kieron Meakin who had the tail rotor failure, you are correct Fergus,
Howzit. This is interesting especially the Melsetter and Chipinga stories. I grew up in Chipinga in the 1970s and this allowed me to write about it in all aspects including poetry, The Mouldings of Chipinge, Present the Three-Legged Dog, Sons of the Soil, The Flame Lily Weeps, etc. in addition to other books.
Got to enjoy the grenade-throwing procedure! My one snr schoolmate of RLI, of slight stature recounted his story - announce throw, watch flight, take cover. He skipped step two proceeding to 3, when he was suddenly jerked up above wall and politely asked whether he thought the flight was good!!:) It's a good life out there after all.
👍 Fantastic interview, one of your best!
Wow, thank you!
Pictures do truly tell a 1000 words! Fabulous interview. I loved the informal atmosphere..fun yet with some seriousness, a great balance. Makorokoto x
At @48.30 that .303 Rifle serial number looks like M4507. The M serial number prefix was BSA Shirley in Birmingham, and one of the 1944 was letter M.
Excellent soldiers
Point of Correction, Mnangagwa Was Not Part of The Crocodile Gang That Killed A Farmer In Melseter or Chipinga,He Was Never There
I verified this to the last degree & one survivor of the Crocodile Gang Even Said It that Mnangagwa was never part of them
Thank You My Brother For These Historic True Historical Events Which Are Not Zanulized
Thanks John and Fergus. that was lekker, thoroughly enjoyed it!
Loved the interview!
Cracking stories John and Fergus. Thanks so much for keeping the memories and history alive, some sad tails but a hell of a lot of funny ones, not sure about the old memory for distances though chinas, pretty sure Chipinge to Melsetter is more like 45 miles give or take. Last time I drove it was 2015/16 and it took me well over an hour as I recall. Might have got that wrong mind you, that trip was a headache trying to source decent diesel at the time. Any how, all the best for 2022. Onwards.
the guy who was on the cover of contact book, was John Schots
Another great episode,thanks guys.
Good to see you Fergus
Great Video John. Interestingly I was also in 14 troop (Jug Thornton was the Troop Commander and Charlie Warren my stick commander along with guys like Log Enslin and Pops Van Niekerk) before I went off on officers course. I have really good memories of my time in 3 Cdo but of course being commissioned into 6 Troop 2 Cdo my allegiance changed.
Thanks for the info! I never knew...
Was Tim Bax a lieutenant colonel?
He was a captain in the Rhodesian Army and a major in the South African Army.
He also served in the Transkei Defence Force.
RMY
Great chat and interview gents. Thanks
Thanks for the Video!
Very nice,thanks
Picture 16 (39 minutes in) shows two great 2Cdo characters, Jerry Doyle 2nd from the left and the late Piet Opperman on the right, both phenomenal soldiers and guys I was proud to serve with. I think it may be Max Van Traun (SP) between them but cant remember the guy on the lefts name
Awesome Pic of Fergus, for me it says 'moet net nie kak soek nie'
Thanks for sharing this, I enjoeyed every second. Sound is very good too
Thanks for listening
Great Stuff
The photo at approx 24:09 was 3 Cdo at Grand Reef. ‘PJ’ Palmer-Jones foreground right, ? Botha on the left. You’ll notice ‘Freddie’ Fredericks (?) on the right of the briefing wearing a pair of shorts that had been extended by attaching the legs of camo longs.
I seem to remember Major Bruce Snelgar was giving the brief. That may help date the photo.
This photo was from a series of photos taken by a professional photographer attached to the Commando for a period. My aunt worked in some government department and for a birthday of mine, not sure which one, presented me with an album consisting of most of his photos. A lot of them have ended up ‘out and about’ somehow.
As a female fan who was just a wife to a Sappa during the war, thank you for enlightening me regarding all the other forces, Selous Scouts, 4 RR, SAD, RLI etc...so interesting. Im lovong this series. To the novice sheila (ja I'm an Ozzie now) please enlighten me to to some of your abbreviations, e.g. RPD?
Sorry, SAD = SAS
AAh Honey you where not just a wife, your letters where so important to your Hubby. He lived for those letters. RPD rifle a Russian Soviet weapon .
SKS Soviet 5 shot rifle AK47 Soviet assault rifle. 30 round banana magazine. RPD Soviet light machine gun with a drum magazine
RPD is a light machine gun named after the designer Ruchnov Pulemyot Degtyaryova (and his team i suppose)
Viv Henning. A great guy. In Australia now.
Very good 👍
Nice one, guys.
Thanks!
Great, mates
Mad dog Gallagher passed away April '24
I recognize that Delta story, you’re talking about Shrek!
Nice format and presentation. Great interview. The guy on the MAG on the front cover of Contact, is Johnny Schots of 2 Commando.
Both Viv Henning and Gibbo where part of 14troop when I was the troop sgt
Correct Log! Thankyou
That contact cover John Schots and Gary Lewis 2 Cdo!
36:58 I am sure that these guys were 2 Commando, guy in the middle looks like Danny Burke and the guy in front on the right is Nick Frangoulas.
Theo malan and my dad were best friends. He passed away couple years ago
Was at Marandellas High School with Theo Malan. His Dad was our local doctor
@@annagriffin2865 my dad was Andrew spoody Bellingham, Lyndie malan is his wife, they met in school in dellas, she lives in Kent on on Sea now
John - did you ever interview Moose Urassmas? I’m sure I’m spelling it wrong. Also, where does Ferguson reside these days? Philippines?
Never interviewed Moose Erasmus unfortunately, RIP. Fergus lives in Gordon's Bay, near Cape Town
John can you insert arrows pointing to the faces in the photo shown at 1:08:14 as the information supplied is very interesting?
Paul Abbot passed away recently. Chris Cocks was in touch with him in the UK.
So sorry to hear that! We're all getting our call-up papers to 2RLI 😑
I think Beaver mentions these
Mills 36 grenade. We nicknamed it the 36" hook (effective fishing 'rod').
😂
@@fightingmenofrhodesia Puzzling emoji! Tears and smiles??
@@warty3620 Boet!!!! Crying with laughter
@@pamberinehondo9447 Danke boet.
@@warty3620 👍. Keep well
Any idea where Viv Henning is now? I was at varsity with him.
Hey John...did you ever read my article on Matt Lamb which was published in the Rhodesian SAS Association journal "Winged Chatter"?
No I didn't but would love to. Could you possibly email it to me? bugeisha7@gmail.com
Talking about grenades reminded me of grenade training in boot camp, we went to the grenade range and when it was my turn to walk out to the pit with the Drill Sargent I notice a real thick (about 3" glass )view window about a foot below the wall we were behind. The DS gave the instructions on the proper procedure for throwing the grenade, so to make a short story long I pulled the pin let the spoon fly threw the grenade and then look threw glass and all of a sudden I went crashing to the ground with my DS yelling all kinds of colorful metaphors at me...Pvt what the f..k are you doing.....what tha hell are you thinking....etc. etc. my response was Drill Sargent the Pvt wanted to see tha sum bitch explode Drill Sargent
Was this the last one?
Nope, there's another one. Keep going, lol
I think the main manne you were thinking of was John Hickman with the tufts of hair on his cheeks
100% lol
After the war, late 1980’s or ‘90’s, Penguin Pools sent a team from Salisbury to Marandellas to resurface our swimming pool. Leader was a very efficient, quiet, no-nonsense man named John Hickman, who lived in Ruwa then. Just realised from this series... was he, “THE” John Hickman??!!!
I enjoy the "legend" where one enterprising individual, placed a shovel under his pal, who having had to struggled out of the top half of his jump suit, and was having a dump, and removed the evidence. The frantic removal of the other half of the suit and subsequent search for the evidence, resulted in great hilarity..... err, John, its a rifle not a "gun" (just saying) 🙂
Unless it's an MAG ;)
Seem to remember some RR sarg intoning what he'd probably said to all the previous intakes: 'This is my rifle (pointing to the FN) this is my gun (pointing to his joy-stick) this (the FN) is for fighting, this (joy-stick) is for fun'.
@@warty3620 Had the same thing recited to us in RLI Training Troop many times.....John is correct in the interview as he referred to his MAG so that was a GUN
@@pamberinehondo9447 I'd never even thought of that, but of course a MAG wasn't a rifle, so I suppose the instructors assumed we knew it was a 'gun': coming straight from school, it was a rather wild assumption, me thinks.
@@warty3620 There we’re many wild assumptions on their part, the main one being that in week 1 we were all as useless and stupid as each other 😂. Still, even with that we are no doubt in agreement that everything those guys taught us kept us safe in the bush. 👍💪
Too Lekker........🥃😎
1:01:25 Brigadier Hickman???
Exactly!
oops, G gun!
"Slainte", you two. Keep laughing men!