Jack Guard
I have just received the very sad news that Veteran Kasman Jack Guard of Mousehole in Cornwall passed away peacefully in his sleep on Sunday night August 19th 2018. He will be very much missed by the community for not only his involvement in local affairs for over seventy years and the local branch of the British Legion in particular. He was a regular sight in the area working his beloved cameras on the local scene. Many of his videos are posted on Youtube. He was also proud of his page on this website and frequently highlighted the website on Facebook.
Jack spent his time at Kasfareet in WW2 from 1943 to 1946 and loved his work of tractor driver towing all different kinds of aircraft between the airfield and the C hanger. In later years he was a member of The 107 M.U. Association , a band of servicemen and women who kept alive their memories of wartime beside the Suez Canal. I am proud of making friends with Jack when I visited him at his home some years ago and had a good old chat with him about his days at Kas. He provided some good material for this website. There are already almost 300 comments to the Facebook posting of his passing away. He will be so sorely missed.
And some moving images of floral tributes to Jack posted online following his funeral
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And finally a saucy reminder of Jack in his favourite stamping ground !
A nice picture of Jack December 2012
Jack is the latest ex-Kasfareet man to find my site and e-mailed me on Sept 1st 2010 saying that he had some wartime photographs of Kasfareet. In fact he had about 70 and so started sending them to me. When I phoned him, I found him to be a lively old chap now aged 90 but sadly he has recently lost his wife and now lives with his two cats in Mousehole ( as a true blue Cornishman, Jack calls it Mowzul) near to Penzance and he spends his time industriously recording on video the life and times of the activities in and around his village and Penzance and the neighbouring area.
Jack has managed to make quite a name for himself in this field and to date has produced, I believe, more than 600 videos in all, a few of which he has mailed to me to see. A friend of his, David Flaxman of Liverpool visits Jack several times a year to collect more copies from Jack so that he can upload them on to You Tube. I have even seen one of his videos on a Pakistan website ! All this plus also being interviewed by the BBC.
May I suggest you do a google search for youtube.penzanceparish
then on the google results, click on the link for Videos for YouTube.penzanceparish for a sample viewing.
Jack joined the RAF at Cardington in Bedfordshire in 1940. He was allocated the service number 1158831 with a trade of Flight mechanic ( engines ).he was stationed at Marham in Norfolk and Marham Decoy from July 1940 to April 1942 which was a dummy airfield to tempt enemy bombers away from the main base of Marham. Duties there involved continually moving dummy aircraft around and one crazy airman who drove down the simulated runway at night with lights on pretending to be a plane landing. Jack says they were successful in getting the attention of some German bombers. Jack then moved on to Waterbeach in Cambridgeshire then Duxford, Wittering in Northants, Wigtown in Scotland, RAF Mona in Anglesey, North Wales then Squires Gate in Blackpool prior to being moved on to Kasfareet in the Canal Zone. He worked in C hanger working on plane repairs, ERS being Engine Repair Services and ARS for Airframe Repair Services. Jack recalls buying a Rolex watch in Ismailia for £19-10-0d and selling it for £29-10-0d when he returned back to Blighty ! He also recalls the number of great footballers who found themselves out there. One team, I believe it may have been 107MU, boasted 10 professional footballers and an amateur goalkeeper. Then only last week Jack gave me a call to say that while there, he saw two captured Italian warships kept moored out out in the lake. I would imagine they may have been brought up from Somalia area. He returned to the UK in 1946 for demob at Hednesford.
Jack has managed to make quite a name for himself in this field and to date has produced, I believe, more than 600 videos in all, a few of which he has mailed to me to see. A friend of his, David Flaxman of Liverpool visits Jack several times a year to collect more copies from Jack so that he can upload them on to You Tube. I have even seen one of his videos on a Pakistan website ! All this plus also being interviewed by the BBC.
May I suggest you do a google search for youtube.penzanceparish
then on the google results, click on the link for Videos for YouTube.penzanceparish for a sample viewing.
Jack joined the RAF at Cardington in Bedfordshire in 1940. He was allocated the service number 1158831 with a trade of Flight mechanic ( engines ).he was stationed at Marham in Norfolk and Marham Decoy from July 1940 to April 1942 which was a dummy airfield to tempt enemy bombers away from the main base of Marham. Duties there involved continually moving dummy aircraft around and one crazy airman who drove down the simulated runway at night with lights on pretending to be a plane landing. Jack says they were successful in getting the attention of some German bombers. Jack then moved on to Waterbeach in Cambridgeshire then Duxford, Wittering in Northants, Wigtown in Scotland, RAF Mona in Anglesey, North Wales then Squires Gate in Blackpool prior to being moved on to Kasfareet in the Canal Zone. He worked in C hanger working on plane repairs, ERS being Engine Repair Services and ARS for Airframe Repair Services. Jack recalls buying a Rolex watch in Ismailia for £19-10-0d and selling it for £29-10-0d when he returned back to Blighty ! He also recalls the number of great footballers who found themselves out there. One team, I believe it may have been 107MU, boasted 10 professional footballers and an amateur goalkeeper. Then only last week Jack gave me a call to say that while there, he saw two captured Italian warships kept moored out out in the lake. I would imagine they may have been brought up from Somalia area. He returned to the UK in 1946 for demob at Hednesford.
Early wartime days in Norfolk
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 Correction by Jack...He was only 10 years old when the R101 was about. He was in the R101 Hanger when he got his service number. The airship was long gone.
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In and around our `C` type hanger at RAF Kasfareet
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205 Grp v 206 Grp Played at 107 MU Feb 1946 Muir of 107 MU in Goal Result 205 Grp 4 206 Grp 1 |
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Cup being presented to 205 Grp
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C.R.A.F.A. 307 P.O.W. DANCE BAND 107 MU EGYPT 1944 |
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Pictures from around the camp
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The Cycle event above is of the Grand Prix de Kasfareet
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1944...I would guess that this rehearsal for a play |
 YMCA Feb 1946
? Roberts And Bill Clark |
 YMCA 1944
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Geordie Dryden from Newcaste and Ed Palmer Saltash, Cornwall Enjoying a spell of leave at Tomahawk House Alexandria in 1944 |
 second from left - Ed Palmer with Jack Guard 1944 |
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 Two nice pictures of the C of E Church Alter
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Rest and relaxation leave in Alexandria
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More pictures
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Joe Shortland`s 107MU Association
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Bumph
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 Jack`s close mate in the C type hanger ,
JoeShortland, founder of the 107MU Association. |
 This and the following pictures are uploaded from photocopies of the original pictures so I am afraid the reproduction quality is not that great.
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The only known names are :- Back row L to R 2nd Straw, 3rd Bob Bowser ? 4th Charlton,6th Harry Johnstone, Harry Blackburn extreme R Front row L to R 1st `Timber` Woods, 3rd Wing/Co A.Mille, 4th Gp/Cpt W.M.G.Parker, 5th Andy McLaren of Preston North End & Scotland. |
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 Re The Queen of Salvage bus shown above, Jack recalls going into the MT section one morning to collect his Case tractor, and he had to move the old bus to get the tractor out. He remembers it because of the unusually high step into the bus. The Case tractor was for towing heavy aircraft around and a smaller Clarkson tractor was used for smaller aircraft.
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Some of the wartime service ladies. The bottom picture shows the wedding of 107`s chief test pilot to S/O Helen Hind WAAF at Heliopolis April 1944 L to R Fl/Lt McMillan.........Best Man Fl/lt Peter Pugson...Groom Mrs Helen Pugson..Bride Gp/Cpt H.M.G.Parker Station Commander |
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Nice letter from Joe Shortland to Jack Guard (undated)
