大象传媒

23 鈥� Charles Taylor (born 1922) talks about his time in the Home Guard and the Army:

鈥淚 was 19 when I was called up; many of my pals were also called up but they didn鈥檛 go in the same section, the same regiment that I went into. Quite a few that I knocked about with 鈥� three finished in the Navy and one in the Air Force and I went into the Army. Went in January 1942, Infantry, which I wanted to be because I was in the Home Guard from the time they started; my father was from the time they started 鈥� it wasn鈥檛 the Home Guard then鈥�. Anyhow, we used to patrol up around Alveston Hill and around there. As I say, I then went in the Army. I went to Cleethorpes, was billeted in empty houses, did our training there (as I say it was winter time, blasted cold, no fires, and it was cold) and then we came out, we went to Richmond then and after a time, exercises and what not, we were kitted out with tropical gear and told we were going abroad, and that is all they told you. Nobody knew where you were going, and off we went.

We went out by convoy and got to Gibraltar and part of the convoy went to the left and we kept going, and I thought Christ, where the hell are we going, because being in tropical kit we thought we would be going to North Africa but anyway we didn鈥檛, we travelled on, called at Freetown for water and on we went again round the Cape. One or two old soldiers said 鈥楥hrist knows where we鈥檙e going,鈥� and pulled in at Durban, stopped there for six weeks camped on the racecourse at Durban, and then got on the boat, and off we went again and still nobody knew, and anyway we were on the deck one day and one old soldier stood by me and said 鈥業 know where we are now, Gateway to India, that鈥檚 where we鈥檙e going,' and we went to reinforcing camp at Delhi.
We stayed six weeks at the camp, waiting there. It was about three and a half years I was out in India. Then one day we were all called together, or so many of us in front of the Medical Officer, Basher as they called him, and the officer came on and he said you are all having an examination, and you have all got to be A1+, and the Medical Officer came on then and he said anyone who has had a certain disease, that way, anybody who had had malaria, that way, everybody who had had something else, that way, and everybody over thirty, over there. He said right, has anybody got any complaints? Of course you never answered any questions like that in the Army, so no answer, so right, he said, you are all A1+, and so that was the medical. The officer came up and he said right, you have been chosen for a special force and you have all got to be A1+ to go on to this, now are you sure you have got no complaints? Anybody who wants to drop out now, you can. So he said that you are going on this special force, you are going on jungle training, and you are going to do what they called 鈥榣ong range penetration鈥� with Wingate (General i/c the Chindit forces - ed). We never knew anything about Wingate or anything like that, and off we went to a jungle camp and started training, started collecting equipment together, mules and what not. I went in for mule transport and we had to go and fetch these animals, a few at a time, from a railhead (about 80 miles it was) and we used to have to walk them back and train them to carry stuff, and I really enjoyed that, I really enjoyed that. And there came the time when they said that we are moving up to Burma and we moved up in stages, took everything with us, dropped us at an American Air Force base and they were going to fly us in.

I have never seen such a shambles in all my life as those Yanks, how we ever won the War I shall never know, and so the first lot were going in by gliders, taking animals by air in a bloody glider mind you! You ought to have seen them when they took off; I have never seen anything like it in all my life, my mate stood by me and he said I hope by Christ that we never go in them bloody things you know - but we were never allowed to swear, if you swore you were on a charge because Wingate was a very鈥︹�ind of thing. Anyway, when we saw these gliders take off, they were hooked up to a Dakota and all of a sudden they would take off, and the cables were brought back to the gliders, the plane set off in a wink, just got into the air and snatched these nylon ropes, and they used to kind of stand still, the Dakotas 鈥� you could see them standing still, they were straining, and all of a sudden you would see the elastic in those ropes took it and away it went. You just imagine, fourteen men in one of them blasted things, they were only canvas, tube and canvas, and if there was a mule in there there wouldn鈥檛 be so many men, but you fancy having a mule in there 鈥� they are some of the wickedest damn things you ever knew.

We were twelve months over the War finishing, so people had got used to it by the time we got back, oh yes, they were pleased to see you back. There were a lot who never made it back you see, but in Burma we lost only one of ours 鈥�..you would be surprised how many we did lose(overall), and nobody ever told you anything about it, nothing at all.鈥�

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