Introduction

Tent riging in Fayid Circa 1953
Photo Dave Hickman R.E.

This web site may be of some interest to the British ex-forces personnel who served in the Suez canal zone and elsewhere in Egypt, particularly in the 1940s and 1950s and to the many Egyptian, Sudanese,and Palestinian civilians who worked some for many years, on the British bases,and who,for the most part remained friendly, until 1956 anyway, towards the British even during,and after such times as the Nasser led coup d`etat of 1952,and the departure of the deeply unpopular despot King Farouk.

The site will consist mainly of old black& white photographs of that time, but I hope to include from time to time stories and anecdotes about Egypt,and the canal zone in general,so if you are interested,and particularly if you have photos and stories of your time there I`ll be glad to hear from you. I would like more old photographs,etc to build up this site and,make it more interesting for everyone,so if you can help, email me by clicking on the mail box below.

I hope this site bring back some pleasant memories of a time now long past when we were all just a little bit younger,you may find it helps to wear rose coloured spectacles for viewing these pages.I'm afraid no post traumatic stress disorder counseling is available on this site, but the R.S.M. has kindly offered to "have a word" with any distressed soul who may have been upset by these images.

I spent most of my two years national service 1952-1954 in the army with 58 Coy (staff cars) R.A.S.C. previously known as 591Coy, in Fayid near the shores of the great bitter lakes and traveled to most places in the zone at one time or another, I left Egypt in march 1954 at the end of my service. It would be another forty years before I returned to this fascinating and by now more

I have been back several times in recent years,and was pleasantly surprised to find that my own camp was still there,as was R.A.F Fayid now operated by the Egyptian air force, much of the canal zone looks as it did all those years ago, I wish I could say the same. I hope you enjoy,and perhaps may like to contribute something to this unfinished and still developing web site. One last thing, please walk with care though these sands of time there are ghosts here for many of us,
Keep the flag flying,

Regards
Bill.                                                     To email this Web Site Click