Fighting Men of Rhodesia ep64 | Clive Midlane 2nd talk
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 21. 07. 2021
- Part 2 in which Cpl. Clive Midlane provides compelling evidence to suggest that the Air Rhodesia Viscounts were indeed shot down by surface-to-air missiles. The Grey Scouts cavalry unit played an important role in the Rhodesian Bush War and "Middy" was right in the thick of it with his trusty steed, serial number 747, nicknamed "Boeing"!
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Outstanding , I can't get enough of this , what wonderful soldiers and young men you all were ! Respect sounds so hollow , there are not enough words to describe what is owed to you . I was born in 1970 , lived on Widdicombe road but the war was imprinted on my mind , from watching the news , to seeing the military vehicles drive past our house and helicopters landing at Eastridge Primary . Incidentally myself and two sisters were on the viscount approximately an hour ahead of the won shot down in Kariba . In later life I met Capt Hood's daughter in Dubai when I was a pilot with Emirates , I now live in the UK and am a simulator instructor on business jets . I still feel Rhodesia was my spiritual home . God Bless
Knocked the ball out the park again Mid. Take my hat off to the lads and horses for being so courageous during those very trying times. Thanks for keeping us safe so we cd enjoy.â€â€đđđ
I was a kid on a farm in Chipinga.
We were (I was), fortunate to have units the Grey's Scouts overnight at our farm. My request to anyone who may know. Who was the stick leader who rode a grey horse called DUKE. I shall never forget him. He let me ride up on the horse with him from the paddock to the sheds where the unit bunked for the night.
The other horse I shan't forget was a chesnut called Tequila. What a feisty horse. I remember it kicked over all the feed bags near to where it was tethered. I collected a very large box of cubes (which Duke and his crew), enjoyed when they visited.
So please anyone who may know the owners of the two horses, I will be very keen to know who they were.
Many thanks.
Clive; great history!
I think his name is Oscar Nielsen, he was a Sgt stick leader in Bravo Troop, he rode a Grey, his personal horse, not sure of the name though. He was also from Chipinga area I believe. The other Sgt was "Gravy" Dave Scott but he rode a chestnut, also personal horse. Gravy was/is a Chipinga boy too.
@@TheBushmanmike Good evening Mike. Thanks very much for responding. Would you know if Oscar is still alive. I would very much like to have a chat to him.
@@kmgfarmer3499 I am afraid I dont, the last time I saw him he was in Police Reserve. I don't know if you know he lost a leg due to AP mine clearing a path through the Cordon Sanitaire for an external operation into Moz.
A very good Troop Commander.
You gotta love Mid's story telling!!
So captivating...
Awesome Midlanus, great account of your bush days in Rhodesia. The Que Que days were awesome, had some great times in the old Ford Pop. All the best china, hope to catch up soon, cheers.
This is fascinating. Especially about the Viscount, that is very very interesting. I am learning so much about my family history through these interviews, and for my Rhodie mum this is bringing back so many memories she thought lost. Love his story telling way as well. My mum is also dying to know who did the beautiful leopard painting behind him.
15000 kms away,Middy and Hannes made my working day brilliant,proud country men
Respect Middi... From teaching me how to para gluide to all your experiences. Thank you will never cut it.
Really good stuff, guys. Thank you for your continued service.
Much appreciated!
Thanks Clive, John and Hannes. Once you've encountered the irrepressible spirit of guys like Middie as I've been so privileged to, it makes you want to be a better man. Grateful always.
It seems Clive was the first person to introduce hair gel to the ladies, cream soda flavor. Lol đGreat job as usual gents,
Boom đđ
To be honest, Clive could make a garage sale exciting with his incredible story telling skills!! đđđHe had me glued to the screen and hanging on every word!! Amazing stories! Such heroism! Thank you John and Hannes!! Such poignant questions, Hannes. Thank you for posting John!đđ
Glad you enjoyed it
@@fightingmenofrhodesia As an aside to the content, impressed by your selection of instrumental music - tricky to select, but for me you nail it consistently across your videos.
@@Sitnominedigna517 thank you so much for noticing. I take a lot of time to try and find the right music to create an appropriate mood. It's nice to know that someone else picks up on it. đđŒ
@@fightingmenofrhodesia yes you've certainly hit the mood, and as much as I enjoy AC/DC or Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries, glad you haven't gone for those track-types. I take it you are doing the video editing? Again I accolade your tasteful use of effects - tempting as it maybe to use every single font created and firework transitions for such a noble subject as Rhodesia's fighting men and women. Respect John, keep going. Many thanks for your good work.
The history of the Grey's Scouts both in the modern and early eras is a fascinating and must read story for any Rhodesian or Military Historian worth their salt. Many medals for bravery including the Victoria Cross, DSO's, Silver Cross of Rhodesia and two Bronze Crosses. Prolific campaign medals.
Great Stories !! Great information .. Thanks
Great interview Middy, a larger than life and loveable character for sure.
Thank you for mentioning Lt Kevin "Canvas" Tennent (RIP), he was a fellow regular cadet course mate of mine (Inf/25(21) who, like his best mate from our cadet course, Capt Bobby Harrison (RIP) also committed suicide in some beau geste fort in the deserts of the Oman. Stay safe and well mate and respect to you and your Regiment.
Thanks for these special words Russell đ
Excellent talk. Thank you Clive, John and Hannes. The Grey Scouts is a gap in my knowledge of the bush war where the spaces have been filled.I want to buy the book Equus to read more about this fantastic unit. After the war I had a Grey Scout horse called Prince. He was blind in one eye so maybe Clive will remember him.
Hannes, I spoke to Robbie Dickinson, before he passed away. He told me that he recovered an unexplored Strella missile at the elephant hills hotel when it was burnt down. That was the first of its type in the western world. The yanks were very interested. Robbie was also involved in the design of the poking and our âchocolate cakeâ land mine
Great interview Gents !!
Excellent. One of the best, like Middie's first one.
Much respect! The Grey Scouts must arguably have been the most "exclusive club" to belong to in all of the Rhodesian Security Forces, considering the size of the unit.
Clive's got some great stories. It'd be great to hear about his adjustment post-war and from the black troopies too, I know they're wary. Happy late birthday to John too, thanks for doing so much.
Congrats on the great project of recording these stories. Posterity will forever be in your debt. Thanks so much.
Puts to bed the theory those flights were sabotaged - really great stuff guys. Has been an incredible series.
These are great recollections of history during a dynamic time.
Only just started, but what a way to start the day, with Middie,! 0600B
What a great guy! I thoroughly enjoyed Clive's talk. Thanks, Hannes, John.
What a Character! So Vibrant.
Interesting! I was with 1 Indep at Vic Falls in 78. We spent time looking for the strellas on the approach path to the airport, with no success. An interesting deployment at night from an armoured railway car!
Thanks again for another greatly intresting follow-up interview with this fascinating guest! đ
I'm always looking forward to a new release and really enjoy listening.
Keep up the good work đđ
Fascinating Stories. Thanks again John, Hannes and Clive. I flew into Vic Falls for school holidays in 78 79 when the train became too dangerous.
Wow what stories.
What a great story,,we can feel that it was great big Rhodesian family,, respect gentleman , thanks Hannes, John.
What a brilliant episode! Thank you all
Fantastic interview! Enjoyed the green mamba drinks story .. the lady in your company must have loved that awesome smell showering her immaculate hair due đđ , thanks Hannes and John .. appreciate your input Clive loved this one đđ»đđ»đđ»đ
Once again!, Middy, another great one!
Such a great interview, and such great stories. Luckily I missed the first one so I can go back.
Thank you for an amazing interview !
well done Middy, another good one. Good to hear all the names of your fellow Grey Scouts and hear what you got up to. Ride through that Chamabondo area quite frequently. Thanks John and Hannes
Excellent, you should write a book, Cpl Mark Bechley was one of the first Rhodie's I meet at Cranbourne on my first day in Rhodesia. He ask if we were going to "graze" we thought he said "grace"(Rhodie accent) we thought church service !we said no,and went hungry that nite.Write a book ek se
Guys a Lekker interview, made me Shekhar. Respect and have a great weekend. Go BOKKE đđ€đ€đđ.
Good one Middie, as usual. Names and places all important reminders. I probably hate Zipra more than Zanla!
đ€Ł the story in the car đ€Ł legendary quote âpoor girl was scarredâŠanyway back to the war!â đ
I nearly chundered just thinking of Uzo and cream soda
Middy: âOh my livid...!â. Love it!đ€Ł
I wish Clive would talk about his life after 1980 and MDC.
Re the search for the Strella gangs near VF: In Winds of Destruction, by Group Captain PJH Petter-Bowyer he mentioned on page 470 previous attempts on planes going into VF including an SAA plane. Further, he speaks about preventatives the Air Force took in regard to Strellas on pp. 325-327 and in that section made comments about warnings given to Air Rhodesia re the heat signature of a Viscount. I am sure he said more than this somewhere else in the book but I can't find it. My point is, this op that Greys were involved in, was our warning and has been mentioned before this interview, and indeed corroborates this interview.
Excellent! Please have him back.
Listening to the shady things surrounding the downing of civilian planes my mind went to this verse and gave me some solaceâŠ
âMatthew 12:36
âBut I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.ââ
We will know who pulled that trigger someday, and if he never was born again, he will hear those dreadful words âdepart from me ye that work iniquity..â
I hope Clive writes a book about his life.
Been waiting for this
On my first deployment to the namibian border we were sent by train as well from pretoria to grootfontein a 4 day joirney new lt had no pullđ
Clive is such a natural storyteller. All that's missing is the campfire in the bush... Clive mentioned Rhodesian song writer Gary J Hannan's 'Songs from the Battlefield'. Here is one of his songs (sung by Josh Dunne), a tribute to his warrior buddies czcams.com/video/9rreQQcWLCw/video.html (includes war footage)
Be very interesting to see if youâd ever be able to find one of those missile gangs. I doubt it though??
Bring Jeremy in.Should be very informative.
I hope there is a part 3. Or maybe Clive has his own channel.
Morning John, 2 degrees at my flat this am
French 7th Indep were at Rusambo
Middie, easy be Don's mate, serve him a brandy each night or even better a whisky, lol
Clive Midlane you should really get Stretch Atkinson to do a talk on FMOR now theres a man that could tell a story or two.
I noticed in the pictures that the Grey Scouts carried the G3 rifle instead of the FN-FAL. Did the men prefer the G3 over the FAL? Or were they issued G3's just because their weren't enough FAL's to go around?
We started with FN's and then we found that the G3 was shorter and lighter.
We also had 2 x RPD's per stick of 8.
With hindsight AK's would have been the answerđ
They were also at Rusambo
Kevin Gobi -Now there's a name I remember.
Unless I'm mistaken, 'Doc' Ward was a Que Que boy, a farrier. His father was a Q.Q. GP, John Ward.
Correct Warty. Nick 'Doc' was an operation soldier and became a Farrier after the hondo.
@@clivemidlane8152 Howzit Clive. Do you still have any contact with Nick?
Very much so Warty. Nick is in Aussie working on the mines.
@@clivemidlane8152 Thanks kerel.
Should get a VC for the bravery of telling the VW story. đ€Łđ€Łđ€Ł
What does the "V" stand for? đ
Barking in the VW John đđ€Łđ€Ł
Lekker one Middy
To find out about Jeremy brickell, there is a utube lecture he gave 9 months ago. On site: Centre for Innovation & Technology. Disturbing, sickening but fascinating if it is in fact true.
Engineers ?? Pookie drivers ?? Landmines were a big factor in the war
Hi all grey scouts folks, iv been trying in vein to find some info of my grandad's service in the Rhodesian armed forces, and would like to know if you may possibly have crossed paths with my grandad IJ (sakkie) Odendaal??
From what I can find he was in the grey scouts from 77-78 then went on to 10th batt, any info would be greatly appreciated
Sakkie must have been a TA in 'B' Sqn. Hopefully someone from 'B' Sqn will be able to help here đ
Thank you for the reply as I would really like to know more about his time in, as he never spoke about it
Clive were you ever at Tswiza at one end of Gona?
No Fraser, I joined after the Gonarezhou days.
đđ„
Where's Clive staying now?
How is Lionel York these days ?
Creamsoda and Ozo. I'll blow chunks just smelling it
How many New Zealanders served in the grey scouts?
Hi Duncan, I can't recall any NZ guys, but we did have a few Aussies.
Jess is Jesse bush
Correct Fraser đ
In 1972 when l was doing my NS, there were areas in the valley, between the gorge & Chirundu that were so impenetrable with Jesse that our maps had blank spaces with the caption "Too impenetrable to chart!" If you wanted to go east to west & the game trail went north to south, then sorry for you but you had no option but to go north to south & just pray to hell that you didn't meet rhino, buff or jumbo coming the other way as there wasn't too much space to plot an escape đđđ
@@calummackenzie1797 I was a Sapper so in 72 we traveled in style from the wall to Chirundu in our boat.
@@fraseredk7433 Yes, we carried the bloody boats down in front of the dam wall. Although they were aliminium, they were still bulky, & the Sappers crapped on us not to drop them on the rocks. Also helped to bring the motors down, twin Johnsons, if l remember correctly painted army green. We were at Kariba from July to October '72 & l hope that you weren't 1 of the Sappers crapping us out? đđđ
@@calummackenzie1797 was the boat a Hercules or were the motors twin Hercules ? Could well have been there mid-72 as I finished Llewellyn in March and went to Brady to learn to be an Engineer (!)but I never crapped on anyone. Far too chilled. I was 17 and a wanna-be hippie !! We slept on the sandbank near the pool below the wall , shot at crocs when damblasting was going on ,on the Zambian side,trawled out of the gorge into the flatlands to fish and went on to Chirundu for movies with the SAP on occasion.Real war only started late 72. I was done by Sept. Then callups from 74 until 80.