tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6501586017974986851.post7155561465040219246..comments2023-06-08T07:14:20.132-07:00Comments on CHOPPERTECH: LORD RICHARD VALENTINE-GASCOYNE CECILBeaver Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15092980697221951142noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6501586017974986851.post-29814153145465601422011-04-29T09:14:23.581-07:002011-04-29T09:14:23.581-07:00My name is Nick Downie, and I was standing next to...My name is Nick Downie, and I was standing next to Richard Cecil when he was killed. I should like to correct the errors in your account of his activities, and his death on 20th April 1978.<br /><br />First, I was with him during his entire time with the 2 RAR Fire Force (I actually spent more time with them than he did, and went out on more contacts) and NOT ONCE did he fire his weapon at any insurgent. He was armed with an FN at the insistence of the RAR, and his job was to watch my back, encumbered as I was with a 16mm film camera to my eye, headphones over my ears, and a tape recorder, plus a pack containing spare batteries, camera mags and film, etc. Bear in mind that we were filming contacts shoulder to shoulder with the combatants, and only a few metres from the insurgents.<br /><br />Again at RAR insistence, I carried a 9mm pistol for self-protection (useless, but still), not least because when we parachuted into a contact with them, I was first out of the Dakota door - the bulky container holding my film gear barely fitted through the door and on the run-in I had to be held by the dispatcher half-in and half-out of the door.<br /><br />Next, he was shot first in the thigh, and then a second bullet traversed his chest from left to right. He was not shot in the stomach. He died some 5-10 minutes later as we were trying to resuscitate him (we were so close to the guerrillas that at one point I heard them whispering to each other - armed as I was, only with a pistol, I did not open fire).<br /><br />He did not “present” anything called “Frontline Rhodesia” on Thames TV - that was simply the name of the documentary which I completed in Rhodesia over the following months and later edited for Thames, months after his death. Until Thames TV bought the UK broadcast rights, it was an entirely self-financed operation. In the event, neither I nor anyone else made money out of it - I simply covered my and Richard’s expenses for what turned out to be ten months’ work (he was killed within a month of the project starting).<br /><br />I trust all that is now clear,<br /><br />Yours, Nick Downie.Nick Downienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6501586017974986851.post-48295860085185689172008-07-15T18:51:00.000-07:002008-07-15T18:51:00.000-07:00I believe that your book will soon be counted amon...I believe that your book will soon be counted among the greats concerning the Rhodesian Bush War. You seem to have a real talent for allowing us to "feel" a little bit of what it must have been like to be there. Thank you for your efforts, and I can not wait to purchase a copy and read it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com