大象传媒

This is not a story of a hero, merely reflections of a man of 83 years, who like millions of other young men of 18 years of age was forced into an undertaking made necessary by evil men, i.e. Hitler, which resulted in years of conflict.

When war was declared in 1939, my then fianc茅e, Gwen and myself were in my mother鈥檚 house, little realising the change that would be made to our lives following that declaration. I feel that many of us who experienced the war years look away from bad occasions and remember quite vividly the 鈥榣ighter times鈥�.

Towards the end of 1940 I volunteered for the RAF, and when asked what I would like to do I said 鈥榓ir 鈥� crew鈥�. I was asked what my occupation was, and when I replied that I worked as a butcher鈥檚 shop assistant I was told 鈥極K, you will be a cook / butcher!鈥�

Training saw initial six weeks at Blackpool with PT on the sands- at low tide. (Low tide was a great relief as I was not a very good swimmer!) I worked in various places throughout the UK. While I was at Wallingford, Oxfordshire a party of us, including the sergeant, went for a swim in the Thames. Yours truly jumped in and then found there was no bottom, - it was a good job the sergeant was a qualified life-saver. I decided there and then to improve my swimming, and quickly!

Posted again, this time to Surrey to an embarkation unit we were issued with khaki drill shorts and a large pith helmet. Within a few days about 400 of us were told to be ready at 4.00 am the next day, when all assembled and marched off at quick march. We marched to the station about two miles away, only to be told we were 24 hours to early! We marched back! How the war was won!!

We really did embark however, at Liverpool onto SS Ortranto, and spent the next five weeks at sea before putting into Durban. After three days stopover and we were back on board, before finally arriving at Bombay two weeks later, sometime in 1941. After seven weeks at sea I would never transfer to the navy!

I spent about two years in India working as a butcher / cook before I finally received the news I had been waiting for, - a posting to Aircrew for training. I was posted in Calcutta at that time and my orders stated that I was to be in Bombay within two days. Now the trains in India were often full then, and the express train to Bombay from Calcutta took 36 hours, while the slow train took five days. The Railway Transport Office (RTO) told me all the trains booked up, so I had a real dilemma.

Somehow during my stay in India I had become friendly with the General Manager of the Bengal-Nazpur Railway, and I told him of my predicament. He said 鈥淏e at the station at 8.00 am tomorrow.鈥� I duly arrived at 8.00 am, and he was there to see me off. He had arranged for an extra carriage on the express which was labelled 鈥淩eserved for L.A.C. Parkes鈥� Special treatment indeed, he was a very good friend!

I left India on board SS Strathmore and eventually landed at Liverpool. I was put through full Air Crew training in various camps in the U.K. until I received my Air-Gunner beret, and was promoted to sergeant. Eventually I was posted to Operational Squadron at Kirmington, Lincolnshire as an air-gunner on the Lancaster bombers.

I have never yet spoken to anyone who saw active service who did not experience fear, and I was no exception. Bombing raids were always a hair-raising experience, but I return to my first paragraph, i.e. about 鈥榣ighter times.鈥� In one operation after returning from a daylight raid over Germany it was decided by the bomb-aimer and the pilot to switch off all auto-devices and return to this country by map reading. We became hopelessly lost somewhere over France, and honestly, we dropped to '鈥榙eck- level'鈥� so that I was able to read the name on the French railway station so that we could get a pinpoint to plan our return home! Happy days?

Finally, about two years ago my wife received a telephone call, it was from the wife of Syd McPherson, he was the navigator in our plane, and we had lost contact for 59 years. He was seriously ill and wished to see me again. They found us through R.A.F Squadron Records, and since then we have maintained regular contact with him and his wife.

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