The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME; pronounced phonetically as "Reemee") is a corps of the British Army that has responsibility for the maintenance, servicing and inspection of almost every electrical and mechanical piece of equipment within the British Army from Prior to REME’s formation, maintenance was the responsibility of several different corps:
World War II’s increase in quantity and complexity of equipment exposed the flaws in this system. Pursuant to the recommendation of a committee William Beveridge chaired, the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers was formed in October 1942. The Corps had the rare honour of being granted the ’Royal’ prefix at its inception. Such a major re-organisation was too complex, however, to be carried out quickly and completely in the middle of a world war. Therefore the changeover should be undertaken in two phases. In Phase I, which was implemented immediately, REME was formed on the existing framework of the RAOC Engineering Branch, strengthened by the transfer of certain technical units and tradesmen from the RE and RASC. At the same time a number of individual tradesmen were transferred into REME from other corps. The new corps was made responsible for repairing the technical equipment of all arms with certain major exceptions. REME did not yet undertake:
In 1949, it was decided that "REME Phase II" should be implemented. This decision was published in Army Council Instruction 110 of 1949, and the necessary reorganisation was carried out in the various arms and services in three stages between July 1951 and January 1952. The main changes were:
The Cap Badge: Various REME cap badges have been authorised since the Corps’ formation and pictures of these can be found at the REME Museum. In 1947 the cap badge adopted the Horse and Lightning. This badge has a strong significance to the role of the Corps. The cap badge consists of a Crown denoting the ’Royal’ status granted them, the Horse and Chain represent mechanical power whilst the Lightning Bolt represents Electrical and the Globe represents the application of Engineering universally. The REME motto is "Arte et Marte" which translated from Latin to English is "By Skill and By Fighting". From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia : Repair of electronic and optical equipment |