Page 9 - Flaming Cauldron – Issue 64

ACC ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER

Soldier recalls cooking Christmas dinner

for 200 men in South Korea

An Army veteran has remembered put the skills he learned in the Army to
the difficulties he faced cooking good use, later cooking at a hospital for
Christmas dinner for hundreds of sol- children and young people with Down’s
diers in a challenging environment, syndrome.
while serving in South Korea exactly He has been at Royal Star & Garter
70 years ago. since December 2022, and enjoys taking
Bob Sewell was in charge of a two- part in cookery and arts activities, and
man team feeding 200 men breakfast, also calling out the numbers for the
lunch and dinner daily while stationed in popular Bob’s Bingo sessions.
East Asia with the Army Catering Corps. He is happy not to be tasked with the
He is now 89 and a resident at Royal responsibility of cooking the festive meal
Star & Garter in Surbiton. The charity this year: “I’m looking forward to the
provides loving, compassionate care to After leaving the Army, Bob cooked at a hospital for delicious meals they’ll serve here over
veterans and their partners living with children and young people with Down’s syndrome Christmas. I’m happy I don’t have to do
disability or dementia, and also has the cooking anymore! The food here is
However, help was on hand thanks
Homes in Solihull and High Wycombe. excellent, and the kitchen staff have a
to resourceful colleagues. Bob contin-
It has also launched new services reach- properly equipped kitchen and good
ued: “The Commanding Officer sent
ing into the community. ingredients to work with, which is much
some Royal Engineers over, who made
more than I had in South Korea! Royal
me an oven out of two oil drums. They
Star & Garter is a lovely home and I’m
cut the rims off, welded them together,
very happy, and very lucky to be here.”
and put them on a brick standing. They
Royal Star & Garter in Surbiton
had a pipe and a petrol tank, which
is welcoming new residents. For more
dripped on a hot plate at the back and
information on this, the new services it
sent flames round the oven. And we
provides, or to work at the Home, go to
cooked the turkeys in that. They were a
www.starandgarter.org/surbiton
bit scorched, but they were edible!”
www.facebook.com/starandgarter
Bob was also able to use the
impromptu oven to cook chicken and www.twitter.com/starandgarter
legs of pork, to ensure all the men had a www.instagram.com/royalstarandgarter
memorable Christmas dinner.
Bob had joined the Army in 1954, About Royal Star & Garter
Bob, who cooked in the Army Catering Corps, now aged 18. He said: “They decided I’d be in Founded in 1916, Royal Star & Garter
lives at Royal Star & Garter in Surbiton, and is looking the Army Catering Corps, even though
forward to Christmas at the Home is a charity which provides loving,
I had no experience beforehand. I had
compassionate care to veterans and their
Bob said he was faced with many to do military training for six months in
families living with disability or demen-
daily challenges cooking with basic Aldershot, the same as everybody else,
tia, and has three Homes in Solihull,
equipment and limited ingredients, but then I was sent to training school
but his toughest came during his first for cooks for two weeks. That was it!” Surbiton and High Wycombe. We have
Christmas in South Korea in 1954. Looking back, Bob said: “Everyone also launched services reaching out into
He was on his first posting and says what terrible food it was in the the community including Lunch Clubs,
attached to the Northamptonshire Army, but we only had primitive equip-
Day Care and a national Telephone
Regiment, where he prepared meals for ment to use. And to be honest, the food
Friendship Service.
the troops three times a day, despite his we prepared was reasonably good. At
relatively limited culinary experience. first I was nervous cooking for so many
Food for the soldiers consisted people, after such a short period of
mostly of items including ham, chicken, training. They say an army marches on
corned beef, eggs, dried mash and tinned its stomach, so it was a very important
milk. position in the camp. Where we were
But on Christmas Day, things stationed was like a desert, it was quite
took a surprising turn when Bob was desolate. We had hot summers, and in Twitter: @starandgarter Facebook: @starandgarter
Instagram: @Starandgarter Tik Tok: @starandgarter
approached by the Commanding the winter it was cold, really cold. There
LinkedIn: @Royal Star & Garter
Officer. “I was given two big turkeys and were times when we would crack eggs Website: www.starandgarter.org
told to cook them,” said the grandfather. open and they would come out frozen!”
Royal Star & Garter is a member of the
“And I thought how the hell am I going Bob also served in Japan and Hong National Care Forum
to cook them on an open stove?” Kong, before demobbing in 1960. He
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