Post Crown

Two British Engineer Officers sit in the shade of tree in a remote village of north east Thailand. It's January 1967 and they are in deep discussion about the route of a road under construction by Sappers of the Corps of Royal Engineers. Behind them are a mixed group of inquisitive villagers, the chances are they have never seen a white man before. On the left holding a map is Brigadier Richard Clutterbuck, Chief Engineer Far Eastern Land Forces. On the right is Major Freddie Rose, Project Officer for the Post Crown road. In mid 1966 when it became clear that the Crown airfield would be completed before the year was out, Brigadier Clutterbuck put forward a plan, which if agreed, would enable the Engineers to remain in the Loeng Nok Tha area. The Vietnam war on-going and communist insurgents had crossed the river Mekong from Laos. The insurgents were taking advantage of the remoteness of the area and the lack of all weather roads. They were targeting and killing policemen, village headmen, teachers and other officials. Colour slide right courtesy Maj Freddie Rose.

The picture top left shows the equivalent of a trunk road for the area in which the Post Crown road was to be built. Below it the project survey team dig their Land Rover out in the area of Ban Sawat, as if to give weight to the argument, of the need for the road. Agreement with the Thai authorities of the route the road would take was problematic and eating into valuable time. It was finally decided to build a road north-westwards from Loeng Nok Tha passing by a chain of villages and heading towards a road being built by the Thais from Roi Et province. By now it was late November and work was due to start on January 1st. Freddie Rose and his small team of staff headed by WO2 Brooks, had to establish the detailed route, write a specification for the work, design the first bridges and set up a stores organisation, all in about four weeks. The recce's were interesting because few people from Crown had been far from the camp and the attitude of the communist gangs in the area was uncertain. Somehow, these groups were told the British soldiers would carry out a 'peaceful project' and would not carry weapons outside the Base camp. Throughout the project, there was no trouble from these groups.

The Monsoon season starts in the north east of Thailand from May onwards. It was vital to get as much done as possible before the rains set in. 34 Fd Sqn under the command of Major John Isaacs were tasked with completing twelve kilometers of earthworks, five bridges and twelve culverts. Work started from Loeng Nok Tha with the bulk of the plant and manpower. A temporary camp at Ban Hong Khong was set up in the school grounds. As plant and men became available, they worked backwards to join the road from Loeng Nok Tha.

On 30th April 1967 34 Sqn handed over to 59 Sqn after the Governor of Ubon Province had officially opened the first section of road. From May to July 59 Sqn's task was to push on the road and bridge construction as far possible before the monsoon arrived. Violent storms swept the area on May 1st and 2nd with several inches of rain falling. Luckily this was short lived and the ground soon dried out allowing work to progress rapidly. The 'Old Hands', the plant operators of 54 Sqn, making full use of the favorable conditions. Ahead of schedule the road reached the low ground and the watercourse that was to be crossed by Bridge 6. The watercourse was too deep for conventional pile and buried trestle's so piers were constructed out of Christchurch cribs. This was 59 Sqn's original target but they pushed on across the low ground, round the clock, putting in numerous culverts, to the higher ground. By the end of July 59 Sqn had built two and a half kilometers more than their original target. They handed over to 11 Sqn and a well earned rest.

August to December 1967, 11 Sqn were in residence and facing the toughest conditions of the road construction so far. Saturated soil had bought earthworks to a standstill. Nevertheless 11 Sqn worked on with culverts going in, sappers were sometimes working up to waist deep in water.The thickly forested escarpment (pictured) presented a real challenge. It was impossible to set out a centerline through the thick undergrowth. Two helicopters from RE Air Troop (FARELF) provided the solution. Ground to air radios enabled the airborne Project Officer to line up long bamboo poles so the D8 operator could see them over the tree-line.

By October the rains slackened and progress quickened. The original target was already in sight and it became clear that if the project was extended by another four months, the road could link up with the one being built by the Thais, thus opening up an important lateral link right across Thailand. This extension was finally agreed and it was also agreed that 11 Sqn would be relieved by a composite workforce based on 54 Sqn. The handover took place in mid January 1968.

January to April 1968 54 (FARELF) Support Squadron. 54 Sqn's task was to complete the road to Ban Nong Phok and link up with the Thai road. This would involve a further ten kilometers of road at a rate of construction greater than any achieved so far. The Squadron was reinforced by additional plant operators, fitters, drivers and combat engineers. Towards the end of the project, a small team of Royal Thai Engineers with their plant joined the project. It was necessary to work shifts from 0600 to 1700 hrs seven days a week and in conditions which became increasingly hot and dusty. The composite workforce pulled together as a team, beat all previous records on speed of construction and completed their tasks with just a couple of days to spare. Whilst all this effort was going on, the back-loading of plant, stores and equipment from Loeng Nok Tha had started.

In the end forty kilometers of road were constructed. It cost the Thai government less than half than it would if constructed by contractors. It provide excellent training for a number of squadrons and their support services. It made an immediate impact in opening up the region and it was no coincidence that communist activity in the region dropped considerably. The completed road was officially opened in mid April 1968 with some one hundred and fifty attendees. The British Ambassador, the Army Commander FARELF, and the Chief of Staff of the Thai Armed Forces were amongst the guests. The British and Commonwealth soldiers were told the road would open up the area and bring economic improvement. Increasing numbers of veterans of the Crown and Post Crown have nostalgically started to visit the area including the webmaster. Those of us who have, can confirm the road has achieved the goal of opening up the area whilst improving the prosperity and health of the people who live alongside and around it.

The picture above was taken at the Opening Ceremony of the Post Crown road. Considering the conditions in which it took place, the ceremonial parade which
followed was a tour de-force for which all the participating sappers deserve enormous credit. Neither the actual form of parade nor the drill were unusual, but in view of
the heat and the fact that the "parade ground" was quite literally a field of dust, the
performance as a whole was superb. On parade, were a regular Thai Army band, a company of the Thai Army, a composite Sapper Squadron made up of troops from 11, 54 and 59 Squadrons, and finally 54 Squadron's volunteer Corps of Drums. The Army Commander FARELF, who was amongst other VIPs on the saluting dais, subsequently described the Sapper effort in a letter to the CGS in the following terms:
"The Squadron had trained up a Corps of Drums and Fifes, which (the previous
evening) Beat Retreat in an exemplary manner, and was hard to tell from Regulars.
They were drawn from members of the squadron; plant operators, storemen and
the like, who had learned their instruments in their very limited spare time over the
past four months. At the parade on the next day the Drums and Fifes played
again in support of a contingent of three troops, all very smart in No 3 dress. They
showed up magnificently and were enterprising enough to march past Air Chief
Marshal Dawee in line. The Thai officers had great difficulty in believing that these
were the men who had been operating the plant and carrying out other duties on the
road, and had not been flown in specially from Singapore for the occasion. It was
clear from their bearing on parade how proud they all were of their achievement."
Altogether it was quite a memorable occasion.