Pte Robert W Davies - 1 Jun 1990

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I was in Lichfield last weekend and took the opportunity to visit Lichfield City Station where Private Davies was shot in 1990.

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!st June 1990: Two masked gunmen killed one British soldier, Private Robert William Davies (18) and wounded two other soldiers at the Lichfield railway station.
The soldiers, recruits undergoing training at Lichfield army base, had purchased tickets and were waiting for their train to nearby Birmingham for weekend leave, said Malcolm Bevington, detective chief superintendent of Staffordshire Police.
He said two masked men appeared on the platform, pulled out handguns and shot the soldiers, then jumped onto the tracks, ran across the line and through a builder’s yard opposite the station.

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That plaque must be new-ish. It wasn't there when I went there after the annual NMA in 2010. Well done them.
In 2011, I was invited for a day out at the barracks of RRW, then 2 Royal Welsh. On the wall in Battalion HQ, they had a board with their Op Banner ROH and apart from missing the so called "other causes" losses, I saw that they had not listed Pte Davies. When I met the CO, I brought up the subject of the missing names. About the other causes, he said that it had been the policy of a previous CO not to list them on the ROH board and agreed that this was wrong in his view. But he said that although Pte Davies had been badged RRW during training, he had not yet finished recruit training therefore not on the Battalion strength. So technically he was not a member. I did argue the toss about this but sometimes you come up against the immovable object. But I told him I would be chasing this up. Unfortunately due to cuts, the 2nd Battalion was later disbanded and everything was put into storage ... including the ROH board. But I haven't given up on this.

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That plaque must be new-ish. It wasn't there when I went there after the annual NMA in 2010. Well done them.
In 2011, I was invited for a day out at the barracks of RRW, then 2 Royal Welsh. On the wall in Battalion HQ, they had a board with their Op Banner ROH and apart from missing the so called "other causes" losses, I saw that they had not listed Pte Davies. When I met the CO, I brought up the subject of the missing names. About the other causes, he said that it had been the policy of a previous CO not to list them on the ROH board and agreed that this was wrong in his view. But he said that although Pte Davies had been badged RRW during training, he had not yet finished recruit training therefore not on the Battalion strength. So technically he was not a member. I did argue the toss about this but sometimes you come up against the immovable object. But I told him I would be chasing this up. Unfortunately due to cuts, the 2nd Battalion was later disbanded and everything was put into storage ... including the ROH board. But I haven't given up on this.

Good shout mate! Well done.

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everything was put into storage ... including the ROH board. !

It begs the question, just what happens to all the possessions and acutrements of the disbanded units and formations. Where does it all go, regimental museums can only take so much stuff, just think about all the officers and sergeants messes silver that these units would have accumulated over the millenia, (and probably paid for by "compulsory donations" from pay) all the donated wall plaques from visits, roll of honour boards, there must be mountains of it somewhere, any ideas folks?

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everything was put into storage ... including the ROH board. !

It begs the question, just what happens to all the possessions and acutrements of the disbanded units and formations. Where does it all go, regimental museums can only take so much stuff, just think about all the officers and sergeants messes silver that these units would have accumulated over the millenia, (and probably paid for by "compulsory donations" from pay) all the donated wall plaques from visits, roll of honour boards, there must be mountains of it somewhere, any ideas folks?

An interesting question, I know the RAF have an hangar/store for oil paintings drapes etc for the senior few to choose from for there OSR quarters.... The Army Museum have several stores located around the country besides the one in London...

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I was a RAF "Stacker" when Wattisham was transferred from RAF to the Army Air Corps. So towards the end we were heavily involved with the disposal of memorabilia from the Officers and Sergeants mess. Back then, 1993, other units could bid for items. Anything left over went to RAF Quedgeley, which was one of our large storage depots, similar to Donnington and Bicester in the Army. That's now closed, so where is it all now. Has it gone Tri-Service like a lot of other things? I don't know, but I'll put the question up on a RAF Stackers page and see if I can get an answer.

One thing I did have difficulty getting rid of was Bibles! Every officer had one for charges. You cant destroy the word of God. The Salvation Army took them off my hands in the end!

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Keep up the good work,

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Robert Davies never served in NI but became one of us when he was murdered at Lichfield City Station in 1990. He has a street named after him in his home town. RIP.

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