大象传媒

In March 1940 at the age of 28, I was called up for the R.A.M.C. (Royal Army Medical Corp). I went to Hampshire Fleet that was a Crockham Barracks, there they asked for volunteer cooks, I applied for this and was sent to the Army Cookery School at Aldershot. I passed out there in the same year.

I was then posted to Wiltshire Barracks and was in the reception, here I cooked for the nurses. Following this we went to Woolwich Barracks, and then went on a field cooking course at Mill Hill Barracks. Whilst we were there we would go dancing at Finchley, where I met my future wife. We got married in 20th May 1944, at Finchley in North London.

I then got posted Auburn, in York then 2 or 3 days after, D Day, I went to France and we were at 118 General Hospital. WE landed on Gold Beach and we would sleep in the fields at night. We had to go to the Beach each day to collect the hospital equipment, i.e. tents, beds etc. While I was there we went to Caen, to make a field kitchen because of the bombings. When I returned to my unit we all went to Brussels, and we took over the hospital called Burgam, which previously was ran by Germans, and in that hospital there were still the torture chambers. We got bombed at this hospital and I actually watched the bomb come down, but no one got hurt.

All I can remember about cooking is that I used all army rations and used to cook for 1000 people in the open air due to bombing. We never got bread, so we would use hard biscuits, and we would have to soak them first to make them soft. I didn't see bread for weeks.

I missed home a great deal, I did not go home for 6 months.

My wife worked as a telephonist, and on a few occasions her place of work was bombed out, as a result of which she could not get home and she had to stay in a hotel in London. When the bombs hit, my wife lost all her clothes.

I remember walking home and there would be glass all over the paths.

I got my release in March 1946 and we came to live in Leicester. Here I went to work as a tram driver, and was then a baker for 34 years.

When I was younger I remember playing marbles, snobs and a game where we would flick cigarette cards.

"This story was submitted to the People's War Website by Michelle Moore of CSV Action Desk on behalf of Robert Robinson and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the sites terms and conditions."

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