Eric Arthur Dring

Eric Arthur Dring was born the son of a farmer, John R. A. Dring and Ruth (nee Allen), just outside Boston in Lincolnshire. He was Educated at Repton School from May 1934 until July 1937 and his list of academic achievements and interests is most impressive. He lists shooting, soccer, squash, tennis, golf and skiing as his sporting achievements and he had a working knowledge of the following languages, French, German and Urdu. He was a member of the Officer Training Corps.

German was picked up during a two month holiday in Bavaria and Urdu comes from two years in Raj Putana, Eastern Bengal, Bombay and Arakan. Swimming, mountaineering, running and sailing along with ability to ride a bicycle and a horse and drive all motor vehicles including motorcycles all add to the impressive resume of Mr Eric Arthur Dring and there is no wonder then that after Eric’s exploits in the Auxiliary Units the S.O.E. took an interest in him.

Between 1937 and 1939 Eric was employed in the family farming business, a business to this day that still exists. Eric joined up with the "C" (Boston) Company of 4th Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment (Territorial Army) as a Private, the 4th Battalion being embedded into the Regular Army on the 3rd September 1939, at the start of World War 2. Eric undertook Officer training at Aldershot arriving in April 1940. A week after arrival he was to meet the King, who was visiting the Officer Cadet Training Unit. The King stopped to speak to Cadet Officer Dring and was photographed doing so. At the end of his course, he was commissioned on 17th August 1940, joining the 4th Battalion as a 2nd Lieutenant.

At the end of October 1940 Eric was seconded into the Auxiliary Units GHQ Home Front. We can only guess at how, but with his background of fitness and languages and being of farming stock then he would have been an ideal choice. He attended Coleshill House and passed out as a Scout Section Officer. There is no further mention of his time as a Scout Officer, he would have had the pick of men from the Lincolnshire Regiment as his Scout Patrol. On 8th Oct 1940 it was reported in the local paper that he had sustained a fractured collar bone as the result of a car accident. He seems to have been accident prone, having being fined 5 shillings, with 10 shillings for driving without a licence. A policeman had asked for his licence following accident on 2 Feb 1941 at Hubbert's bridge, a village west of Boston, involving two cyclists. He had taken out a licence after the event and produced it to the police as required, but they had realised what he had done.  There is no mention as to whether this was while on or off duty. He did write to the court to say he was unable to attend on 14 Mar 1941 due to his military duties (unspecified).

In January 1942 Eric leaves the Auxiliary Units and his promoted to full Lieutenant employed in the Beach Defence Section of the 6th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment. In June 1942 he attached to the 6/4 Bombay Grenadiers as Company Commanding Officer and Weapons Training Officer which lasts until May 1943 when he is posted to the 85th Infantry Frontier Force Regiment in India where he is based at E.W.S. Poona and involved in small boat, weapons training and combined operations instruction.

It is during this time that the S.O.E. rears its head and he joins Force 136 of S.O.E. starting with Lt Colonel “Billy" Beyts who was Chief of Staff to Colin McKenzie. Eric is given the symbol of B/B723 and in November is involved in Operation Lancelot which was established to encourage and supply resistance movements in enemy-occupied territory, and occasionally mount clandestine sabotage operations.

From November 1943 until February 1944 he is within the S.O.E Naval Section and with this comes the promotion to Captain on the 20th January 1944. In June of 1944 he is part of S.O.E. Naval Section on Operation Galahad which was basically an off-shoot of Wingate's Chindit-type operations in the Far East.  He was reported to be home on leave on 14 Jun 1944. Come September of the same year Eric is off again this time to New Delhi and spends the next few months in Calcutta and is available for S.O.E Operation Prunella which is a little vague. From February 1945 to May 1945 he is in “N” Group in Bombay fitting out training schools

His final part in the war is sailing from India to Trincomalee in what is now Sri Lanka. He is the Officer of the watch on the voyage. S.O.E. had a main base on the island at that time and from Trincomalee on 24th October 1945 returns to England.

It seems that while with the 85th Infantry in November 1943 Eric seems to have been a law unto himself  and really shirked his duty as shown in a letter from the Major in charge of the 85th to Colonel Beyts. The letter is as follows:

To O.P. (Col. Beyts)           MOST SECRET                           

                                        H.Q.85th Coy 12 FFR

                                        6/11/43                                                                

I much regret that I no longer have any alternative to bringing to your notice the highly unsatisfactory conduct of Lt. DRING during the previous week.

On Saturday Oct. 30th, our first in the camp, Lt DRING was directed to hand over S.O.E. stores at the office to Lt GODDARD. I left the office early in the morning and returned at lunch, to find no trace of Lt DRING. I discovered the next morning that he had not been able to hand these stores over to Lt GODDARD on Saturday. On the first day of our arrival in camp, where I was working myself until 1930 and with Lt PENTY unavoidably absent most of the day owing to an abscess in his face, Lt DRING, finding that he was unable to hand over stores, instead of coming down here to give me a hand just disappeared for the day without reference to anybody.

On Sunday I gave him a small list of things which I wanted seeing to. It included replacing articles of uniform with special reference to overalls, and the urgently required replacement of unserviceable cycle tubes. In the last seven days no articles of uniform have been replaced and an indent for cycle tubes was made out yesterday.

Except for an hour after lunch he was absent all Friday afternoon and again the whole of Saturday afternoon, without reference to me.

Para 4 of my standing orders required him to make out a roster of Duty officers. Checking up on it today I find that he included in it every officer except himself. His explanation is that he did not think that the Adjutant should do this.

Should it appear that I have taken a sudden or vindictive dislike to this officer with the object of shifting the blame for the state of 85 Coy from my own shoulders, I must point out that as far back as Aug 28th I paid a visit to the shows on which he was in charge and found that a series of orders which I had issued had not been carried out. He was on the point of leaving for a week-end in BOMBAY and I told him to see these neglected orders before he left. Despite, this I found that he had left for BOMBAY within 10 minutes of my leaving the shows.

I had him up at the next opportunity and told him off for this and for his complete failure to take any interest in his men out of parade hours. It was then that I discovered that three weeks after being given a crew of 12 men to look after he did not know all of their names and none of their tribes. As a result of this I decided to ask you to replace him, quoting only the fact that his lack of knowledge of even Urdu made him unsuitable for dealing with my men. I put this to Col. BEYTS on Sept 4th.

Right up to date I have taken the attitude that officers are presumed to back up the C.C. come what may, and that the C.O. knocks hell out of them himself but does not sneak on them to higher authority. At the occasion of Mr STEWART’s last visit, when he turned on my officers I protested most strongly. Their efforts stand up for the unfortunate collection of men who had put their trust in them, and regarding whom they had previously made no collective complaint either to me or to visiting officers, are well known to you.

Now, when few men have been in such an unfortunate position as my men and I, my last surviving British officer behaves as I have stated above. Having adopted the shoulder titles of this regiment when he joined it in April he has now removed them and replaced them with those of the British Regiment which he left some 18 months ago.

I have not shielded myself behind any individual and do not do so now. But this is a matter in which my men and their future prospects of making good, are at stake, and an officer who is ashamed to wear their titles while on parade with them and who will not fulfil his duties even in the letter, let alone the spirit, will receive no more protection from me.

                    Major

                    Commdg 85 Coy

                   12 FFR

It didn’t seem to harm Eric’s career in any way and Colonel Beyts seems not to have taken any action against Eric. Eric returned to England and returned to his farming as he had left off and was head of a successful farming agricultural business which continues to this day.