大象传媒

This story has been submitted to the People's War website by Pam Riding of Kirklees Libraries on behalf of Reg Stone and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was called up on 23/9/1940 in the RAF. The first year near Shrewsbury. Second year in Cheltenham where glider pilots trained.

In January 1943 we were posted to the Far East. We went for our equipment on the top floor of a large store in Blackpool. There was a famous hat called the 鈥淏ombay Bowler鈥� most of the lads got rid of them.

We left Blackpool by train for Liverpool, the route to the station was lined with police for security purposes, in case we tried to get a message out as to where we were going. The train ran straight to the docks, the troopship was waiting for us. As we were boarding we were issued with a 鈥淢ae West鈥� a kapok filled device to keep you afloat in case you ended up in the sea, they were mostly used as pillows in your hammock.

So we set sail from Liverpool up to Gourock in Scotland and joined the rest of the squadron. There were eight troopships in all. After a couple of days we left there, we sailed out in to the Atlantic just as the sun was setting. We set out in line astern, accompanied by the escort vessels sailing in a zigzag pattern to avoid being torpedoed.

We eventually stood at anchor for 2 days off the harbour of Freetown on the Gold Coast. While we were at anchor young boys rowed out to the ships in canoes and we threw pennies for them to dive down and catch. Occasionally some chaps would wrap them in silver paper, this caused mayhem as they would all dive down for these coins and then when they surfaced there would be a few choice words aimed our way.

After 2 days we set sail from Capetown, but while we were on our way something went wrong with the ballast and we were sailing with quite a list to port for 3 days. As we were approaching Capetown, a large yacht was spotted with young ladies in their bathing costumes. As we had been on board ship for 4 weeks this was a sight for sore eyes. Unfortunately everyone tried to dash to the rails for a better view, this caused quite a bit of trouble and the order was given to spread out.

We eventually reached Capetown, but were told no shore leave, only taken ashore to do parades for prestige. The local people gave us oranges after each parade which we took back on board, we soon had more oranges than enough. O course you can only throw stuff overboard at night or when you are at sea or you can be tracked.

We left Capetown and sailed round the Cape to Durban, where you could leave the ship from midday until one minute to midnight. The English people who lived in Durban made us very welcome. Some of us got invited to the home of a Yorkshire family where we had a good meal and a shower, which was very welcome after 5 weeks on a ship.

With Singapore already fallen we had to set sail for Bombay, where we were held in a transit camp until they decided what was going to happen to us. It was decided to send us to Calcutta by boat, via Ceylon a journey of 3 weeks. We sailed in a converted cargo ship, the conditions were terrible, very few hammocks. A lot of us slept on the floor with the rats and cockroaches.

When we reached Calcutta there was a cholera outbreak going on. Our medical papers had been lost and so we had to have our inoculations again which we had already been given in Liverpool. This resulted in the deaths of 2 men as they couldn鈥檛 stand the double dose.

We were again held in a transit camp. One day we were allowed to go and see the sights, the Black Hole and the Firpos Caf茅. We then had to move up country to Imphal sailing up the Ganges.

The Japanese were advancing very fast and it was thought they would sweep through India, luckily this didn鈥檛 happen.

From there we retreated to Dacca in East Bengal (now Bangladesh). While there I contracted Dengue fever and was sent up to Shilong Camp high up in the Assam Hills for recuperation leave. While there we had Vera Lynn, the forces sweetheart, come and sing to us her favourite songs of home. She did a marvellous job to lift the morale of the service men.

From Dacca we moved to Camilla which is now in Bangladesh to join 232 Communications Squadron. One morning I was on guard duty, this officer approached and said he wanted a plane to take him to Imphal. Little did I know he was General Orde Wingate who was in charge of the Chindits. This was 1944, unfortunately five or six weeks later he was killed in an air crash in the Assam Hills. The death of a very unusual soldier which will come out in years to come as he did a job which nobody else wanted.

Then the atom bomb was dropped and we moved to Rangoon. We went to a place called Insain where Amy Johnson had to do a forced landing in her epic flight form England to Australia in the 1930s. I was on post duties in the camp and occasionally you would notice that certain people鈥檚 letters seemed to dry up and then out of the blue a letter would turn up and it usually meant that the wife or girlfriend had found someone else and this was very upsetting.

We sailed in 1946 for home from Rangoon, the docks had been badly bombed, so we had to sail out to the troopship in local fishing boats and board the ship via scramble nets which were hanging down the sides. We sailed round Ceylon, through the Red Sea, Mediterranean and the Bay of Biscay eventually docking at Tilbury after 7 weeks at sea. The end of the journey.

I was called up on 23/9/1940 in the RAF. The first year near Shrewsbury. Second year in Cheltenham where glider pilots trained.

In January 1943 we were posted to the Far East. We went for our equipment on the top floor of a large store in Blackpool. There was a famous hat called the 鈥淏ombay Bowler鈥� most of the lads got rid of them.

We left Blackpool by train for Liverpool, the route to the station was lined with police for security purposes, in case we tried to get a message out as to where we were going. The train ran straight to the docks, the troopship was waiting for us. As we were boarding we were issued with a 鈥淢ae West鈥� a kapok filled device to keep you afloat in case you ended up in the sea, they were mostly used as pillows in your hammock.

So we set sail from Liverpool up to Gourock in Scotland and joined the rest of the squadron. There were eight troopships in all. After a couple of days we left there, we sailed out in to the Atlantic just as the sun was setting. We set out in line astern, accompanied by the escort vessels sailing in a zigzag pattern to avoid being torpedoed.

We eventually stood at anchor for 2 days off the harbour of Freetown on the Gold Coast. While we were at anchor young boys rowed out to the ships in canoes and we threw pennies for them to dive down and catch. Occasionally some chaps would wrap them in silver paper, this caused mayhem as they would all dive down for these coins and then when they surfaced there would be a few choice words aimed our way.

After 2 days we set sail from Capetown, but while we were on our way something went wrong with the ballast and we were sailing with quite a list to port for 3 days. As we were approaching Capetown, a large yacht was spotted with young ladies in their bathing costumes. As we had been on board ship for 4 weeks this was a sight for sore eyes. Unfortunately everyone tried to dash to the rails for a better view, this caused quite a bit of trouble and the order was given to spread out.

We eventually reached Capetown, but were told no shore leave, only taken ashore to do parades for prestige. The local people gave us oranges after each parade which we took back on board, we soon had more oranges than enough. O course you can only throw stuff overboard at night or when you are at sea or you can be tracked.

We left Capetown and sailed round the Cape to Durban, where you could leave the ship from midday until one minute to midnight. The English people who lived in Durban made us very welcome. Some of us got invited to the home of a Yorkshire family where we had a good meal and a shower, which was very welcome after 5 weeks on a ship.

With Singapore already fallen we had to set sail for Bombay, where we were held in a transit camp until they decided what was going to happen to us. It was decided to send us to Calcutta by boat, via Ceylon a journey of 3 weeks. We sailed in a converted cargo ship, the conditions were terrible, very few hammocks. A lot of us slept on the floor with the rats and cockroaches.

When we reached Calcutta there was a cholera outbreak going on. Our medical papers had been lost and so we had to have our inoculations again which we had already been given in Liverpool. This resulted in the deaths of 2 men as they couldn鈥檛 stand the double dose.

We were again held in a transit camp. One day we were allowed to go and see the sights, the Black Hole and the Firpos Caf茅. We then had to move up country to Imphal sailing up the Ganges.

The Japanese were advancing very fast and it was thought they would sweep through India, luckily this didn鈥檛 happen.

From there we retreated to Dacca in East Bengal. While there I contracted Dengue fever and was sent up to Shilong Camp high up in the Assam Hills for recouperation leave.Whilst there, Vera Lynn, the forces sweetheart came and sang for us which was very nice. She did a marvellous job boosting the morale of the servicemen with her medley of favourite songs from home. From Dacca we moved to Camilla which is now in Bangladesh to join 232 Communications Squadron.

One morning I was on guard duty, this officer approached and said he wanted a plane to take him to Imphal.Little did I know he was General Orde Wingate who was in charge of the Chindits. This was 1944, unfortunately five or six weeks later he was killed in an air crash in the Assam Hills. The death of a very unusual soldier which will come out in years to come as he did a job which nobody else wanted.

Then the atom bomb was dropped and we moved to Rangoon. We went to a place called Insain where Amy Johnson had to do a forced landing in her epic flight form England to Australia in the 1930s. I was on post duties in the camp and occasionally you would notice that certain people鈥檚 letters seemed to dry up and then out of the blue a letter would turn up and it usually meant that the wife or girlfriend had found someone else and this was very upsetting.

We sailed in 1946 for home from Rangoon, the docks had been badly bombed, so we had to sail out to the troopship in local fishing boats and board the ship via scramble nets which were hanging down the sides. We sailed round Ceylon, through the Red Sea, Mediterranean and the Bay of Biscay eventually docking at Tilbury after 12 weeks at sea. The end of the journey.

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