大象传媒

We had just started our basic training and I had to go into the infirmary. I鈥檇 got tonsillitis. I was in for about a week. When they released me, I had to go onto the parade ground and catch up with my squad, 165 squad. And the sergeant said: 鈥淥h, yes, you鈥檙e coming back to us. Now then, so and so, just show him how he should walk across the square.鈥�

I enjoyed the training; I was pretty fit in those days. We had marching, rifle drill, things like that. They were very keen on Corps history. You were examined on it. They gave you a note book to write it all in and they checked to see what you鈥檇 written. I can still remember lots.

Marine Corps history as recalled by Bill:

Per Mare, Per Terram

Before 1664 ordinary soldiers would be taken on ships if troops were needed. In 1664 it was decided that a permanent regiment would be raised and paid for by the Admiralty. The Duke of Albany鈥檚 yellow regiment was formed, the first official marines. The were embarked on ships for special and specific operations, boarding and cutting out parties. Their primary task on board was maintaining discipline and in battle they acted as sharpshooters.

After that, the detachment of marines was part of the ship鈥檚 company. In continuous service since then, the marines have gained many battle honours, but carry only one on our standard: Gibraltar, which was stormed and captured in 1704. Wearing redcoats they were dubbed 鈥榣obsters鈥� by the seamen. The other nickname, which has survived is 鈥榖ootneck, originating from the stiff yellow collars they wore. The coming of steam changed the role with Royal Marines (artillery) manning a quarter of the guns on ships.

On board ship we came under the Naval Discipline Act and Admiralty Instructions. On shore it was King鈥檚 Rules and Regulations. If you came back two hours adrift from night leave in barracks you鈥檇 get two days 鈥楥B鈥� (confined to barracks). In the Navy you鈥檇 be stopped one day鈥檚 pay and one day鈥檚 leave.

During training we had a Sergeant: Sergeant Livesey and Lance Corporal Jones was the rear rank instructor. I think we did about five months basic. Out of a squad of about forty, two or three found PT pretty difficult, but managed to get to the end of the training. Field training was mostly arms: rifle, Bren and PIAT. About ten people were put on the Vickers. We did route marches, night patrols, that sort of thing. Food was good but we were always a bit peckish, especially at night. We were in a hutted camp: Blarrick, over the river from Plymouth. Pay was sixteen shillings a week, of which I allotted eight to my mum. It didn鈥檛 leave much for cigarettes and the NAAFI, although you could get tea for a penny and a bun for a tuppence. There were films twice a week and sometimes ENSA shows, which were quite good. I remember seeing Joe Davis, a champion billiard and snooker player, he came and gave a demonstration in the NAAFI one night.

I wrote home once or twice a month, to mum or nanny or, odd times, I used to write to my dad. I don鈥檛 remember being homesick. You were all in the same boat and it was new and exciting. The NCOs although strict, we thought were pretty fair and we had a good relationship with them, not lots of shouting and bawling. Some were recalled 鈥榖arrack stanchions鈥� but our squad instructor: Sergeant Leversley was younger than that and our Corporal, Jones, the rear-rank instructor, hadn鈥檛 been in for more than a year.

The training was very thorough. They even told you how to wash! We went to the washhouse and there was an old soldier there who showed us how to wash our flannel, soap it, and rinse it and dry it in a hand cranked spin dryer. We were shown where to stamp our names in our kit and how to fold everything: how to lay it out for inspection. It鈥檚 all bull, I suppose, but it鈥檚 all to do with discipline. We had a chap: Small he was called 鈥� he was six foot two. He鈥檇 been 鈥榖ack squadded鈥�. I remember when he was firing the Bren he was all over the place. In the end the Lance Corporal sat on him to keep him still while he was firing.

We had our first leave after about three months. We were in khaki but before you went on your first leave you got your 鈥榖lues鈥�. Everybody went on leave in khaki but as soon as they got on to the train they changed into their 鈥榖lues鈥�. There was still a faint possibility of invasion so we had to take our equipment home with us, including our rifles. After the leave we were told by the Sergeant that one of our squad had committed suicide, shot himself. He was a nice lad. We had no inkling there was anything wrong.

When we came back off leave we went on to gunnery training at a place called Eastern Kings. Six-inch guns we trained on. Old, 1914 breech loading things. We used wooden shells and leather things for the cartridge cases. There were six or seven in a crew. You鈥檇 keep pushing these wooden shells in until they dropped out the other end. I was amazed because you had a rammer which I thought was really old fashioned. The number one had a belt with cartridges and he鈥檇 put one in the breech and as soon as the interceptors went up, that completed the circuit and they were fired. On a ship the guns were controlled from the TS (transmitting station) and the gunnery officer and the director above could fire all the guns at the same time. If you did anything wrong they gave you a shell and you had to run around the battery with it. It was heavy a six-inch shell, around a hundred weight. We were taught about mines and things like that. Then we did four-inch guns that had fixed ammunition, like a big bullet really that included the charge as well as the shell. They were twin four-inch guns. We had to push the shells in and wait for them to drop out again. All the time we trained, we never fired anything.

Then we had two weeks seamanship training: learning about the Navy. Things like the keyboard sentry. On board ship the keys were kept under the control of a marine and everyone had to sign for the keys when they took them. We learned how to sling a hammock, about the routine and the watch bill. We did swimming but no boat work. After that we passed out with a big parade, which was in the autumn of 1942. After leave we were sent out to our different companies and we were trained soldiers. Each morning we had to parade in our fatigues and we were detailed off for different duties. I was often in a coaling party. We had a four-wheeled wagon that was hand pulled; carrying metal skips filled with coal. We had to go round each department and restock the supplies for the stoves. Sometimes we had cookhouse fatigues. Then you were free except, every third night you were on PAD (passive air defence) when you had to parade after tea. Funnily enough, my job on PAD was a fire escape on wheels. We used to charge around with that and I knew all about it because I鈥檇 done it with the fire service.

I got a draft chit for the HMS Newfoundland, a cruiser. I went for my medical and, you wouldn鈥檛 believe it, I failed it. I had mumps. So there was a right panic because it鈥檚 very infectious. I was immediately taken to the naval hospital and they fumigated all my gear and packed it away and I missed the draft. I was in hospital for quite a few weeks. There was a 鈥榤atelot鈥� in the bed next to me and we spent the time playing 鈥榖attleships鈥� for hours on end. Strangely enough, one day, much later, when I was in 鈥楢lex鈥� on the duty signal boat, a frigate came in and the quartermaster shouted out: 鈥淗ello Sandy!鈥� and it was the him, the same bloke.

By the time I was better, my squad had gone. Earlier George went out to South Africa with the MNBDO (mobile naval base defence organisation). I鈥檇 put in a chit to go with him but they鈥檇 taken no notice of that. So there was none of my squad left. I was in barracks until next March and then I got a draft for HMS Carlisle, an ack-ack (anti aircraft) cruiser with four twin four-inch guns. The night before I went, I was on fire picket with this other chap, Don Sly. They鈥檇 obviously thought, these two chaps are going on draft tomorrow, put them on fire picket, save someone else doing it. The next day we had to parade with all this gear, great big kitbag and stuff, and be inspected. You had a lot of gear: all the stuff for on a ship and all your military equipment (rifle, bayonet, big pack, small pack). They put us on a truck down to the docks. We jumped off and I couldn鈥檛 understand it. I couldn鈥檛 see the ship. I鈥檇 expected to have to go up a gangplank to get on to the ship but it was low tide and the ship was below us.

We reported on board and they took us down to the mess deck. I couldn鈥檛 believe how my head was touching the deck head. There were only a couple of blokes on board, the rest had shore leave. We were shown into a room about twelve-foot square with two tables hung up on chains with benches either side. There were two small portholes. They told us it was our mess. One of the blokes issued me with a hammock and explained that, as there wasn鈥檛 enough room I would have to sling my hammock somewhere else. He took me and we ended up right aft in the wardroom flat, outside the wardroom near the officers鈥� bathroom, miles away from the mess deck. I knew I wasn鈥檛 going to like it because it was really claustrophobic. You had very little room at all. My locker was above the engine room and it smelt of oil. It was about eighteen inches square by a couple of foot deep and had to take all my gear. Each door between the compartments had a rim above knee height that you had to step over. At teatime I was told that it was 鈥榗anteen messing鈥� here. That meant that each mess had a certain amount of money and could choose what food to buy from the canteen. Certain things: bread, tea, milk, flour etc were issued and you supplemented that with stuff from the canteen. We were told to help ourselves to bread, butter, cheese and jam from the locker above the mess table. The bread was white. I hadn鈥檛 seen any white bread for ages. You couldn鈥檛 get white bread then on shore there was only the greyish brown stuff. But, in the Navy on a ship, it was white bread, baked on board in big, high two pound loaves, lovely stuff.

The next day they rest of the crew came back and we started. I was told that I鈥檇 be a fuse setter on number three gun. We were taken up to the guns and shown what to do. They were twin open mounted four inch guns. One pair was mounted on the quarterdeck, one on the next deck above the captain鈥檚 quarters, one amidships and one forrard. The 鈥榤idships and the forrard guns were manned by seamen and we had the other two. There were twin Oerlikon pom poms either side of us and similarly at the front.

Then we provisioned ship. It was wet and miserable and we were detailed to help bring some stores in. Then we went out in the sound to 鈥榮wing the compass鈥�. That night, I was in my hammock when I heard this rattle. A bloke further down told me it was 鈥榓ction stations鈥�. I shoved my gear on and ran up on to the gun deck to discover there was an air raid. As I said, I was the fuse setter. I had two handles to move: one to set the fuse and one to move the shell out on to a tray. We were going round and round in the turret and I heard 鈥淕un won鈥檛 bear!鈥� then 鈥淐ommence, commence, commence!鈥� and the bells ring and there was such a bang and a flash and my hat blew off, I couldn鈥檛 see. I wondered what had happened. One of the chaps told me to put some cotton waste in my ears to deaden the sound. It was the first time I鈥檇 heard a gun fired and I wasn鈥檛 prepared for it. The raid went on for about half an hour. Afterwards I got 鈥榠n the rattle鈥� because I鈥檇 left my hammock up in the passage.

First we steamed up to Scapa and I was seasick in the Irish sea. We went on shore somewhere and I got 鈥榢aylied鈥�. After Scapa we went down to the Med, not in convoy, on our own. Don and I were replacements for two marines. One had been stabbed whilst in Plymouth and the other had witnessed it. There were about thirty men altogether in the detachment: two sergeants, four corporals and the rest marines. In the first few weeks I was shown my duties. We had different stages of readiness: cruising stations, defence stations and action stations. During defence stations we had one just gun crew on, either three gun or four gun. Then you鈥檇 work four hours on and four hours off. If we were on cruising stations I had to go up on the bridge as a lookout and half the gun鈥檚 crews were on duty. For action stations everyone was closed up at their guns. We all had a place to go to if we had to abandon ship. Mine was by a particular Carley float.

We didn鈥檛 see much of our Captain of Marines (Captain Jaquet) on board ship. As a messenger, I saw him more than most. Sometimes I delivered Admiralty Fleet Orders (AFOs) to him and I would have to write out amendments for him. If orders that had changed had to be destroyed I would take them down to the engine room and push the papers into a hole at the side of one of the boilers to be burnt.

Most of the time we were on defence stations and we got very tired. You never really got a night鈥檚 sleep. You鈥檇 change your watch each day. If you鈥檇 been on the morning watch, (four am until eight am) you鈥檇 come off watch and have your breakfast, then you鈥檇 turn to at nine o鈥檆lock and work 鈥榯il eleven thirty. You鈥檇 then have your dinner and go back on watch at noon. I don鈥檛 remember much about the food, except that we had a lot of 鈥榟errings in鈥� 鈥� herrings in tomato sauce 鈥� for example, fried bread with 鈥榟errings in鈥� on top. We had the office flat, the wardroom flat and the officers鈥� bathroom to look after. A couple of chaps were flunkeys: officers鈥� servants.

We went to Gibraltar and took a load of money on board. It was packed in tins. I don鈥檛 know what kind of money it was but we had to put a guard on it. We took it to Algiers. I鈥檇 seen the film called 鈥楢lgiers鈥� about the Kasbah and all these dodgy characters and here I was, my first time on foreign soil, on my own in Algiers with some signals to deliver. I had my belt and bayonet on walking through the dockyard and I felt nervous so I drew my bayonet. I鈥檓 not sure what I thought I was going to happen or what I would do if anything did.

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