Marne 36

Marne 36

14 Platoon of the Sovereign’s Company

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03 May 2021

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Johnny Thoyts and 'Bubra' Subramaniam finally met again after nearly 50 years when Maniam came to Bangkok in his capacity as Malaysian Boxing guru in September 2015. He took a day off and travelled to Korat in the northeast of Thailand where Johnny lives and the two of them had time for a few beers and a chinwag before Maniam had to return to Bangkok. An excellent meeting and long overdue!

From Robin…… Cadet Sgt (now retired Brigadier) Dick Baly (R Signals) late 14 Pl Senior of Intake 33. He was a bit of a beast in our Junior terms but not now!!

We were staying with him in Burgundy where he has a house in the Macon region near Chardonnay.

Dick with his barbecue

Dick with Ellie his wife sitting together on the far side and my wife Penny

It seems as though "interesting times" always applies here, but after nearly 4 years of this military regime in power the comment seems particularly apt now.  In fact, not since the '70s has any one regime stayed in power for so long and, if history has a habit of repeating itself, this particular one would do well to be looking over its shoulder.  But instead of treading carefully or paving the way towards a return to democracy (as promised so often), they seem to be hell bent on antagonising people and ensuring, if not their own continuation in power then at least control of it.  

They stepped in in May 2014 ostensibly to prevent more civil disobedience and bloodshed on the streets of the capital, which they did successfully and quickly, but since then there has been a continuous erosion of civil liberties, freedom of speech and movement and a confused - and confusing - plan for what they wanted to do.  The military mindset could only cope with order and obedience, so dissent was and continues to be suppressed firmly by means of some extraordinary powers granted to himself by the PM and sanctioned and supported by the 'loaded' Legislative Assembly.

"Returning happiness to the Thai people" was the rather vague aim stated by the PM in the early days, which apparently encompassed: reform and reconciliation (of what no-one was quite sure), an end to corruption, reform of the police, a return to democracy and various other lofty targets that appealed to the average person.  Indeed, for quite some time the strictures of the regime were tolerated and even welcomed as the streets of the capital were at least free of barricades and there was hope that if the rather ambitious aims were even partly achieved, life would be considerably improved in the country generally.

In fact, not one of these aims has been achieved; billions of Baht have been spent on unnecessary military equipment - such as submarines and heavy armour - at the expense of underfunded schools, hospitals and social services; corruption and nepotism are as prevalent as they ever were and some high profile cases close to the PM are being studiously ignored;  the rule of law is still being blatantly abused as it applies to the rich and powerful as opposed to the common people and the continued clampdown on political gatherings including repeated postponements to the promised election in November on highly dubious grounds have all done nothing to improve their popularity, which is now at an all time low.

Few people are in any doubt that one of the reasons for the electoral delay is so that friends of the regime can set up political parties to contest the two main parties, who are within an ace of achieving an almost unheard of alliance.  These 'supportive' parties ultimate aim would then be to re-elect the PM as an outsider PM, as allowed by the Constitution they themselves wrote.  This might be a seriously bad move and might not be far removed from the straw that broke a previous government's back when they tried to filibuster through an amnesty law which would have effectively whitewashed the bad guys and brought back the ex-PM in exile.  

One doesn't need a crystal ball to see potential trouble at t' mill!

February 2018

Pastwiska Poland Memorial rededication June 2017 and Museum opening September 2019

Franta and Barbara at the rededication of the Memorial to his Father accompanied by ‘soldiers’ from Slovakia in the uniforms of the 2nd Czechoslovak Parachute Brigade who fought here in September 1944

And the opening of the museum in his memory click here

The thoughts of Johnny on the current political situation in Thailand.

Sitrep on the health of Tim Holmes

I have been in touch with Paddy and Cherry Hartigan and they have brought me up to date with Tim and his current state post the stroke he suffered several months ago. Paddy asked me to give you guys a sitrep as I had a chat recently about all of this with Cherry who as you may remember is Tim’s sister.

Since Christmas Tim is back home at Le Petit Chateau after several weeks in hospital and is very slowly making some progress in recovery. The stroke was a serious one and has caused him to lose the use of his right side and has also effected his speech, although this has improved to small degree. He is unable to use his right hand. However he is able to walk short distances again and is receiving some limited but very necessary physio and medical support to help with this.

There are several problems for him living in very primitive conditions as the house has never been through the highly necessary renovations that had been planned for it soon after they moved in. I have seen it and it is very basic and uncomfortable. He still has no electronic connection, so they have no internet, e mail etc. Paddy and Cherry are in contact by telephone with Tim but his serious speech issues are hampering the quality of this. I spoke by phone with Tim before Christmas and it was very difficult to have a two way coherent conversation.

My impression is that this is a long haul and progress will inevitably be slow. Being in France there have been no visitors from UK which is very frustrating and, of course, not much prospect of that changing in the short term.

I hope this helps you to be aware of the situation with our friend and fellow Platoon comrade and what he is now dealing with. All of this comes on top of other health issues which he has had to face in previous years. A sad story and we can only hope for the best with his recovery.

Robin Whittington

7th April 2021

Johnny Thoyts gave an interview to The Bangkok Podcast entitled  

The Ups and Downs of Retiring in Thailand

To listen to the podcast click here

7th April 2021