Forgotten Conflicts of the Far East

 

Clive was born on 16th June 1938 near Cardiff, South Wales. He signed up for the Army Apprentice School in Harrogate in September 1953 after leaving school at the age of 15. There he opted to join the Royal Corps of Signals and after 3 years of training, Clive qualified as a Royal Signals Communication Operator.

The next few years took him to Libya and Northern Ireland before he received a posting to Seremban, Malaya in June 1961. Even though the Malayan Emergency was officially over he spent the next 18 months dealing with small pockets of Communist Terrorists in the North of Malaya. Clive was involved during the Brunei Rebellion of December 1962 and the Borneo-Indonesian Confrontation (April 1963-August 1966). He completed 3 tours of Borneo before returning to the UK in June 1964.

 

Listen to Clive Howells's stories
Clive Howells's pictures
"An encouraging pep talk about how the rebels did not possess automatic weapons was brought to a dismal close when an ambushed Landrover was towed in with a neat row of bullet holes 'stitched' along the side".
Clive Howells's story