This Restoration Award goes to Western Desert Recce Group (WDRG) based in Blantyre, but soon to be moving to Paisley, for the restoration of a Long Range Desert Group Chevrolet truck, which is being kitted out exactly as was the case in the western desert by the LRDG medical officer, Doctor Richard Lawson.
The Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) operated during the Second World War behind Italian/ German lines in the Egyptian desert. Observers may have seen them in the role of “taxis”, in the recent fanciful BBC show “SAS Rogue Heroes”. They were much more than that. They were involved in significant intelligence operations and were responsible for creating logistical bases for other irregular operations, such as the SAS. The LRDG was operating well before Col. Stirling and his merry men started their adventures.
In 1941 the LRDG recruited Dr Richard Pike Lawson MB MC MiD of the RAMC as its Medical Officer. Dr Lawson seems to have been a man of significant resource. He realised that, for him to perform his task, he and his medical orderlies needed to accompany the active members on their operations. LRDG thus needed to possess a mobile consulting room/casualty station. This was created entirely by Dr Lawson and his orderlies, mainly through begging, borrowing and stealing suitable materials and building them into a 15cwt Chevrolet CMP truck (although not the vehicle used here, which itself is a very rare Indian Army model). The assembly was demountable and could be used in a tent.
The WDRG is a Scottish charity run by veterans for veterans and was founded in 2010 by Maj Gary Wallace (retd). Maj Wallace’s father served in the LRDG.
It has two interrelated functions
They visit events and shows to display the vehicles and role play their occupants.
Maj Wallace has headed up the truck restoration, assisted by a group of volunteers.
The primary creator of the medical outfit is Tam Wallace (no relation of Maj Wallace).
The restoration and equipping of this showpiece, based on the painstaking notes of Dr Lawson, now held by the Imperial War Museum, is a fitting tribute to a remarkable organisation, and it has provided hours of entertainment for its service veteran volunteers. As such, it is a very worthy recipient of a Restoration Award