Hi all
Does anyone know if the ramc used motorbikes during the war? The reason I ask is that currently my bike is marked in wessex regt , as it was when I got it, but apart from living in dorset I have no affiliations to the regt, but my grandad was a medic. So if they did use them it would be nice to mark it in homage to him as I have his forage cap I could then wear.
Chris
Yes, certainly some personnel had the use of motorcycles so go ahead and paint it up! Quite what markings they would have had I don't know. It may be that they had the 'parent unit' marking rather than anything to do with RAMC, but possibly someone better informed than me might be able to help there. It is likely that if you go to the 'WW2 Talk' forum some of the very knowledgeable members there will have a definitive answer.
My Uncle was with the R.A.M.C. attached to the Paras in India during the war and he certainly spoke often about having motorcycles. I've got a couple of photos somewhere showing him and his mates sat on a Triumph. I'll see if I can find them, but I don't remember there being any insignia or markings on the bike. Whether the Triumph belonged to the RAMC, the Parachute Regiment or some other unit, I wouldn't know.
The 43rd Wessex div was not just from Dorset. It was made up of units from Cornwall/Devon/Somerset/Witshire/Hampshire and maybe further North also. Yes they had Medic units. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/43rd_(Wessex)_Infantry_Division
Needs to be a lot further norff for me ron...thats all very sarff....lol...I will have to get my grandads service records, I know he spent the majority of the war in the middle east in hospitals.
Ijust thought that if the ramc had bikes with their own markings it would be a little different.
