Post Crown Road 50th 2018
Nong Phoc
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For the unknowing reader, the story of the Post Crown Road is covered HERE. Fifty years later and this OCA group under their own steam, were in a a large open sided marquee at the original opening site, to honour those who had built the road. Awaiting us, was a large gathering of Officials, Police Officers and RTA. Standing at a podium were our two translator friends Choky Bunchan and Krit-on Bubphamala. Although we were a little late, fortune was with us as our guest from the Royal Thai Army, was late too. |
Choky and Kri-ton had time to fill as we waited for the Commander of the Roi Et Army base to arrive. They did so by introducing the two senior officials from Khok Samran to the officials of Nong Phoc. Balat Kham (rollover) is a government employee where as Nyock Mit (right) is elected by the villagers. These two men assisted by headmen from the village, are the architects of this 50th celebration. It's not a straight forward process in Thailand, to approach the official's of another town to garner their approval and allow them to (continued below) |
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organise a unique event of this size. To let the staff from a smaller village to enter on your territory and erect stands, display's and bunting is courageous. Not only that, but to allow these people to take a plaque, that's been in your possession for fifty years away for refurbishment, is a gamble in Thai politics. If it all goes pear shaped, the official to have a massive loss of face, would be in this case, Nyamphur Poonpun of Nong Phoc. But it didn't go pear shaped, it proved a great success and the Nyamphur (far left) has a big up tick on his CV for giving his approval (phew). |
Our translators started explaining to the gathering about the Post Crown Road project. They eventually got to the story of how fifty years ago, the British Army impacted positively on the lives of the local population. A media exercise resulted in two people coming forward, who's lives had been saved by the British medics. One was a man, who as a six year old was airlifted to Crown after a serious accident. The other was a woman, who as a baby was seriously ill. She was driven quickly along the new road to Crown where she made a full recovery. They declared owing their lives to the medics at Crown. |
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The Assistant Defence Attache to Thailand Derek Marx and partner Jayne Senior were the official representatives of Britain at this ceremony. On discovering who they were, the Thai's quickly moved from where they had seated themselves with the rest of the OCA party, to the top table. With the arrival of the Commander of the RTA base in Roi Et, Lt Col
Phaiboon Srisaeng (rollover) the proceedings began. The Colonel was the first to deliver his speech. He was honoured to represent the RTA and welcomed us to this celebration just as he had done for the Airfield 50th. |
| Although he was a four year old when the road was built, as Roi Et born and bred he grew up knowing all about it. On joining the Army he served in many different parts of Thailand finally being posted to Roi Et to see out his service. That's why he felt privileged to be with us after fifty years and declared the joint venture between the two Armies is still remembered in RTA base to this day. Our thanks go to you Lt Col
Phaiboon Srisaeng, for taking the time and interest to help us celebrate this unique event. |
ADA Derek Marx was called upon to give a speech on behalf of the British Ambassador. Derek spoke of the high honour he felt to be invited here today. This celebration shows that the great co-operation between our countries fifty years ago still exist today. Indeed, the road has stood the test of time as has the refurbished Plaque .He ended by saying, I am looking forward to the continued cooperation and support between our two Nations. We take this opportunity to thank Derek and Jayne for their superb contribution to our celebration. |
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| John Hamnett made a speech as the OCA representative who were the sponsers of this event. Having worked for a whlle as the signaller for Major 'Freddie' Rose in the early days of the roads construction, John remarked on 'Freddie's' forecast, that the road would prove to be of economic benefit to the area and improve the lives of those who lived close to it. Over a fifty year period, this has proven to be correct. John also stated that how proud he and his fellow travellers were to have worked then and now with their Thai friends, to build the road that had proved itself over a long period of time. |
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The next speaker was Chris Rose. Although he was attending this event in an unofficial capacity, Chris had agreed to speak on behalf of his father who couldn't be with us.
Although Freddie Rose had worked on many projects for the British Army, the Post Crown Road was his most rewarding one. Himself a Sapper Chris quoted quite a few statistic's provided by his father. The amount of man and machine hours and volumes of materials that had gone into the building of the road etc. But the most exciting stories his dad told him when he was a young boy, concerned
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| the encounters with exotic creatures in the virgin jungle the road was being driven through. The many varieties of snakes, spiders, birds and even mammals like Wild Boar that were still prevalent in Thailand at that time. Chris ended his speech with a message from his father regretting not being able to be with us, but wishing us a happy time and successful 50th Celebration of the Post Crown Road. He went on to say he was looking forward to the 'Bicycle Ride' along the road on the morrow, a story for another page. The rollover picture above shows Major 'Freddie' Rose holding the Thai silver cigarette case, presented to him by the grateful Thai government in recognition of his efforts on behalf of the Thai people. Thank you Chris and family for your support and thank you Major Freddie for taking the interest in our celebration. Our Thai friends in the Khok Samran Oberjors office would have been honoured and delighted to have met you. |
| The speeches over and the M/C's asked for our phones to be switched off they called for a two minutes silence to remember those who'd lost their lives on Crown and Post Crown. At least one Thai labourer is known to have died on Post Crown. The silence was impeccably observed by everyone. This was the last act in the marquee and we moved out to gather round the covered plaque. Pictures were taken of the Officials, Chief of Police and speech makers. The rollover shows L/R Nyock Mit of Khok Samran, John Hamnett OCA rep, Lt. Colonel Phaiboon Srisaeng RTA, (cont below) |
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ADA Derek Marx, Nong Phoc Police Commander
Nyamphur Poonpun of Nong Phoc with his two Balat's before the unveiling of the now pristine gleaming 50 year old plaque. Finally the BIG moment arrived when the Colonel and ADA pulled back |  |
the curtains to reveal the plaque. The onlooker's are the OCA party here to mark the fifty years passing since the road was officially opened. Also looking on are Officials, Police Officers and local government workers of both Khok Samran and Nong Phoc. |
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The final act of the Nong Phoc phase of the Celebration, was
the presenting of a Commemarative Plate and gift to all the guests who had gone out of their way and given their time to make this celebration happen.
The Plate was the idea of our good friend and mentor, Mr Chaimongkol Suksanrungrueang otherwise known as Aek. All the Thai dignitaries were presented with one plus a gift. In the rollover picture I have chosen to highlight that the traffic cops on duty that day, were also presented with one. A nice touch.
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| The majority of the OCA group and their guests, pose before the presentation dias.Soon we will be on our way to the second event of the celebration. It's time to mention at this point, the man in the white hat and yellow shirt is Derek Taylor. Derek is the only person at the days events to have been at the original road opening ceremony. He was a helicopter marshall and his place of work on the day, was about a hundred metres behind where he's standing in this picture. The person far right is our good friend Aek. |
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Soon we will be taking the coach to the second event of the celebration to Hong Khong school. At the beginning of the slideshow are a number of images of the deserted display and presentation area before the proceedings started. Taken by Mr David Rice who although not a Crown or Post Crown vet, David was a member of the Royal Signals in that era. He very kindly agreed to take pictures on my behalf as I was otherwise engaged. More of his pictures have appeared on this report. More of the gift presentations and the photo call images appear in this slideshow as there were far too many to get in the rollovers.
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Slideshow
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