Vic Brooks- Interment of Ashes - Sun 29th April - THIS BOARD IS NOW FOR HISTORICAL PURPOSES ONLY. CLICK ON RGJ ASSOCIATION TO RETURN TO NEW IN MEMORIAM FORUM.

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TOPIC: Vic Brooks- Interment of Ashes - Sun 29th April

Ken Ambrose

Date: May 1, 2007

Vic Brooks- Interment of Ashes - Sun 29th April	Permalink Closed

On the warm sunny afternoon of Sunday, April 29^th a group of about 35 gathered in the corner of Bunhill Lodge, Bisley to support the widow and family of Vic Brooks, ex Rifle Brigade and Green Jacket, when she fulfilled his final wish and laid his ashes in their final resting place under a monumental tree bearing a plaque for the benefit of future visitors. The group was a mixture and contained Vic`s friends from the Rifle Brigade, 3RGJ and the shooting team with their wives and partners. The shooting noises from the ranges ceased at 12.30 sharp and we all gathered around the little plot which was to be Vics final resting place. Please click HERE to view photographs. To understand why so many had travelled the varied distances to support Vic`s family on this sad day you have to know a little of his history and therefore realize what he achieved for the Regiment. Vic was born on the 1^st May 1940 at Eltham South London. Not the best of times to arrive, what with Dunkerque about to happen, then the battle of Britain followed by the blitz, his mother must have been a very worried women. At the age of 13 he joined his local Army Cadet Force. His first job after leaving school at 14 was with W H Smiths running his own newspaper stall on London Bridge. I can just see our Vic on the bridge calling out Star, News, Standard in his lovely ***ney accent. Later he worked for the Albion Sugar Companyas a drivers mate, but it was not long before he volunteered to join the Rifle Brigade and reported to the Rifle Deport Winchester in the January of 1959* It is now at this stage his shooting ability started to show, as he was selected to be a member of the Depot shooting team and competed at the Aldershot and District Rifle Meeting. On his posting to 1RB in July 1959 which was at the time stationed at Wuppertal Germany, he was soon practicing with the Battalion shooting team and as a young soldier at the Rhine Army Rifle meeting he became the BAOR Champion Shot for 1960, plus the BAOR Champion Young Soldier. He was then selected for the Battalion Bisley team and here at his first meeting he won the Rifle Brigade Cup thus becoming the Champion Young Soldier in the Army for 1960, What a Feat! On the return of the Battalion to Felixstowe from Borneo in 1966 the shooting team was able to resume competition shooting and it was at the A.R.A. Central Meeting at Bisley that Vic won his first Queens Medal and the Army Championship. Vics shooting career continued throughout his regular service, taking part in 5 NATO and 2 CENTO matches, plus many other Major shooting events, but what with postings and the decline of support for Target Shooting within the Regiment, Vic was only able to take part in 8 ARA Meetings here at Bisleys. On tours of Northern Ireland he aquired the name `Bullet Brooks` because within his unit there were three soldiers called Brooks and he became known as `Bullet` to avoid any confusion and because of his shooting connections. His last posting was in 1981, as a WO2 PSI with 7 L.I. T.A. and on completion of his Regular Service, he became a Territorial and retained his rank. His one ambition was to win the medal for the second time even though he had suffered a heart attack and later had a double heart by-pass operation. He got his chance when, with permission from his OC he trained a team to take part in the TA Rifle Meetings at Bisley and it was at the 1982 meeting that he won his second Queens Medal, being only the second person to win both Regular and Territorial Queens Medals. Vic and Lynne were married in March 1983 and he finally retired from the Army in 1985. When Vic met up with me again after a gap of about 35 years we were both at Winchester. The Regimental Shooting team was having a get together and I happened to be meeting Ron Cassidy at the Museum on that Saturday in the July of 2005. It was a pure chance meeting and five minutes either way and we would have missed each other. As soon as he learnt that I was involved with web site building he went straight into a sales pitch for his final ambition which was to record the history of the RGJ Shooting Team. He believed that this was a vital contribution. We talked for a few minutes and having swapped contact details parted with a promise that he would get in touch. Over the remainder of 2005 we were in constant contact and in early 2006 the first Shooting Team pages appeared on the `Photos` web site. Throughout the following months Vic, with Lynne` s help put together all the material necessary for me to create the pages. Whilst he was doing this he was ill and getting worse every day but the only thing that stopped this constant flow of material for the web site was when his own archives for the Shooting Teams history dried up. In total he had supplied the material for 23 pages, each one covering the Shooting Team achievements for a year within the RGJ. It was whilst we were waiting for further material that Vic`s condition deteriorated and he was taken into hospital for the final time. The pages that he and I created remain exactly as they were on the day that he died except that on the top of the opening page you will find a dedication notice to Vic Brooks, Queens Medalist. As far as I am concerned they are `work in progress` and I will complete them as was Vic`s final wish. At this point Lynne Brooks put Vic`s ashes into the ready prepared hole that already contained the tree with its plaque and the bugler played Last Post and Reveille. After the silence we moved off to the buffet lunch and the bar that had been laid on. The day was sad but a great success and was only possible because of the help extended to us by Colonel Frank Cox (retd) who now runs Bunhill Lodge, Bisley for the benefit of the cadet shooting teams and anyone else who wishes to make use of it. Without his help and kindness the day would not have been possible. Our sincere thanks go to him and his cadets for their help. __________________

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