Barely two months after he was commissioned, George Fenwick Metcalfe was off for the bitter island of Cyprus with the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.  He was a son of the regiment; his father Peter Fenwick having served since 1924 with campaign service in Burma in the 1930s and as commander of the 6th Battalion there again during the war.  Born in 1937, George grew up during the Second World War and was too young for Korea or the early years in Malaya, but when he finally commissioned into his father’s regiment, the Ox and Bucks were facing the prospect of tours through the small conflicts igniting across the Middle East and Southeast Asia.  Their commitment would be two-and-a-half years in Cyrpus.

The regiment expected to sail for Hong Kong, but that exotic posting was canceled for movement to the Middle East.  Their orders were struck for Cyprus on August 3d and they packed kit bags and prepared to embark with the Suffolk Regiment on August 10th.  In another ten days, Metcalfe’s platoon of Letter A Company moved into a school at Nicosia before settling at Oxford Camp, Kermia.

Following a terrorist raid on a nearby police station, Metcalfe’s platoon alongside the others of Letter A Company were called on for a 48-hour operation near Kyrenia.  It was largely a tourist spot on the coast north of Nicosia with many inhabitants from Great Britain.  Still, it retained the history and architecture as the rest of ancient island as well as the threat of nationalist guerillas.  It was the first operation within the regiment until the next week when all available men were dispatched for a cordon and search operation after seven detainees escaped from Camp K.  During the month of September, the regiment took over escort and guard duties as the Nicosia Area reserve battalion.

Letter A Company took over duties of stand-by company in Limassol near mid-November.  It was a dramatic change from the capital city, located on the southwest coast of the island opposite the Troodos mountains from where they came.  The camp was moderately better with permanent shower huts and electricity in all tents and messes, but was still somewhat spartan.  Their duties were significantly more interesting than in Nicosia.  Rather than the monotony of guard duty, the battalion – the only infantry battalion for miles – were able to get into the hills to ‘do a little terrorist chasing from time to time.’  Soon they were using helicopters to drop into villages by surprise while the rest of the search force and cordoning troops arrived by road.  Instead of ancient Byzantine architecture, the men were closer to nature and behind them rose up the harsh slopes of sparse shrubs and olive, carob, and thin pines laced by thin winding roads.  The rocky heights – lacking the lovely flowers of the plains – instead hosted many small lizards and snakes nestled away from watchful eyes of hawks circling above.

Despite all of their relocating during their first six months – marching in and out of camps a total of five times with full peace time accounting – the regiment had settled into a routine of patrolling, road blocking, and short notice stand-to to respond to riots and bomb incidents.  They were spared the flooding of winter rains as their tents were situated on rock above Limassol which received the run off from the hills.  Below them was a lovely view of the town and bay where men passed time watching ships dock and debark lazily in the welcoming Mediterranean waters.

At the dawn of 1957, Letter A Company was among those dropping into the pine forests by airborne assault.  Between Ypsonas, Dhierona, and Lophos, Letter A Company carried out operations hunting for terrorists and whatever contraband they may have hidden across the island.  It seemed this repetitive policing would continue indefinitely when they heard they would be committed to the Middle East for a full three-year tour.  

All around them, trouble was igniting in Aden, the Persian Gulf, and Syria.  Cyprus was just one of the contested hot-spots on the map of a shrinking empire.  Amidst their patrolling and cordoning, just as short-sleeve order came into effect after only three months in battledress, Archbishop Makarios announced that the regiment was more popular than ever before.  He had just been released from the Seychelles and subsequently, terrorist events dwindled.  The general rejoicing went both ways as various emergency restrictions were lifted including a night curfew on Greek youths and for the first time since arriving on the island, the men could go out unarmed while off duty.

Their third year in Limassol was no more dramatic than others – Metcalfe was promoted to lieutenant, Letter A Company found ‘seditious literature’ in a house raid, arrested two female leafleteers, and arrested seven men during an operation at Monagroulli.  All these events recorded merely as brief notes in the regimental Chronicle.  Their success may have been measured in seemingly insignificant bounds, especially when the result of operations might be a single reloaded shotgun shell, but to those hoping to preserve law and order that could signify a life saved.  The new governor was unsuccessful in bringing peace, and despite great efforts to reach a settlement, the grinding patrols and cordoning continued through 1958.  The most significant of these was ‘Operation Kingfisher’ during May in which Letter A Company and Observation Post parties from the regiment were dropped by helicopter to cordon off two villages and surrounding area for a thorough search.  The whole operation took eleven days, after which companies rotated throughout the next month, but their chase only proved that terrorists had long since evacuated.

Their time in southwest Cyprus had the regiment engaged continually in ‘unspectacular but essential internal security’ until the end.  Letter A Company was guarding a detainee camp near Larnaca when, in February, the London agreement on the constitutional future of Cyprus signaled the end of their long tour.  For the first time since 1939, the 43rd & 52nd was heading home.  They had undergone significant change on Cyprus – young men, both those eager to serve abroad and those reluctantly conscripted by National Service, came to know the acute violence that could come to otherwise peaceful people.  The regiment itself had changed in identity as well when they became the 1st Battalion of the Green Jackets Brigade, though they managed to keep their beloved “43rd & 52nd” title.  

Lieutenant Metcalfe departed eleven days before the regiment on release from his short service commission.  His final two months on the island were the most enjoyable of them all – instead of tracking elusive terrorists, the people were at relative peace and the men of the 1st Green Jackets played games, swam daily, ate kebab in Turkish cafes, visited Greek cabarets, and visisted many of the sectors previously off limits.  “Everywhere Greeks and Turks of all types and ages were glad to see one and of course were eager to lighten one's pockets, and we all became aware of what fun soldiering was in the island when it was peaceful.”