TARIN KOT, Afghanistan – Even in the middle of a war, the Royal Australian Engineers take the time to uphold a time-honored tradition.
On June 15, 2012, Australian engineers working at Multinational Base Tarin Kot, Afghanistan, participated in the Waterloo Dinner, 2012. The dinner is a celebration of the military engineering accomplishments, encompassing all wars, a tradition that began with Lt. Col. Stanley Watson.
In 1915, Watson was a lieutenant and commanding officer of the Headquarters Section, 1st Australian Divisional Signals Company as part of the Australian Imperial Force. At that time, Watson was a civil engineer when Signal and Engineers were part of the same corps.
Watson was tasked by his superiors to construct a pier that was to be installed in the small part of the Gallipoli Peninsula, which was renamed to Australian New Zealand Army Corps Cove. The purpose of the pier was to assist the transfer of troops and supplies waiting on ships cued up in the bay.
Under continuous Turkish artillery and small arms fire the construction crew working under Lt. Stanley Watson cut and drove massive timbers into the seabed to build the pier.
In order to drive the posts into the sea floor, Watson used an unexploded Turkish naval shell as a weight to drive the posts.
The pier was finished ahead of time allowing needed supplies to be moved in quickly. Lt. Col. C.H. Foot declared that a celebratory dinner would be held and the 18th of June, 1915, was chosen. The date happened to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo.
Those present at the dinner voted to hold the dinner annually. Sadly, the tradition could not be continued again until 1924. Once the post war army had settled it was officially decreed that the Royal Australian Engineers were to celebrate the Waterloo Dinner each year on the 18th of June or the closest date that is convenient.
With that in mind, the Royal Australian Engineers serving in Tarin Kot made sure to celebrate a tradition that goes back 97 years showing that just like Watson, who built a difficult piece of engineering in the face of enemy fire, though there may be many dangers in Afghanistan, it wont stop the RAE.