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At the outbreak of war Charles was completing his apprenticeship as a plumber in Bishop Auckland. He spent some time in the Home Guard, where the Officer in charge was a local chemist, who invariably appeared with his gaiters on upside down!

Joining the Army at the age of 20, in 1941, Charles completed his basic training, of 6 weeks, at Perth, in Scotland. He says the training involved long marches and was ‘tough’, although to get out of the camp he volunteered to pick potatoes at nearby farms.

After training he was posted to the Royal Engineers and he worked on several construction programmes including repairing the port of Stranrar where they also installed a pipe line under the jetty. Whilst posted to Sandwich, Kent, he was sent to London to work on repairs to the London docks which had been damaged by enemy air raids. In London he was billeted, with many others, in the Tower of London, and remembers the many air raids whilst they were working. Later he and his colleagues were billeted at bomb damaged houses in the east end of London. When he had free time he enjoyed dancing, especially at the Hammersmith Palais.

Prior to the D Day invasion Charles was instructed on the construction of valves and later worked on installing valves in the concrete blocks used in the construction of the Mulberry Harbour at Arromanches, France. Following the invasion he went to France although, he says, they were never told that France had been invaded at the time. He travelled across the English Channel in a landing craft and says he was ‘as sick as a dog’, and was so ill he didn’t care what happened to him!

On landing, his unit set about constructing the Mulberry Harbour. They encamped in Arromanches and such were the skills of the men of the Royal Engineers that they built their own showers out of biscuit tins and by welding pipes together. From there, he travelled north to Calais where he was engaged in repairing the docks and cranes and then to the River Rhine to repair damaged bridges.

Although usually behind the front lines his company did come under fire once near Dortmund and he recalled seeing the tops of the German tanks which were firing at them. Some of the men he served with were killed, mostly by accidents especially whist constructing Bailey Bridges. Charles recalled that he had very little leave during his four years of Army service.

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