大象传媒

I. Before Joining Up
Muswell Hill, N. London

I was on holiday in Llandudno at the outbreak of war staying with my Aunt and Uncle. My Aunt returned from Church to tell me that war had been declared. It was so unbelievable I said 鈥淒on鈥檛 be silly鈥� and she told me off. My elder brother was staying with another Aunt and Uncle on Anglesey and my parents were undecided whether or not we should remain in Wales. Eventually they decided that we should rejoin our School - Stationer鈥檚 Company School - which had been evacuated to Wisbech.
We lived in Muswell Hill, North London and my sister, who was the eldest, was at home at the time and soon after the war had started joined the WAAFS. She was stationed at Radlett in a unit involved in 鈥楤eam Bending鈥�. Beams, which the German aircraft followed, were diverted over open country; a most valuable innovation that saved countless lives.
My Father joined the ARP before war started and the house became an Air Raid Warden鈥檚 Post with sandbags around the front door and a telephone installed.
The Warden鈥檚 Post was put out of action when a 鈥楧oodlebug鈥� flying bomb landed nearby killing a baby in a neighbouring house. The propulsion unit of the bomb lay nearby in waste ground for some years after the war ended
I left school and lived at home and joined the Civil Service as a Temporary Clerk Grade 3, working at the Admiralty at Fanum House, Leicester Square. The department was D.E.M.S. - Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships - and my job was to fill in a card index of the movement of personnel, file signals etc.
RN officers of the Executive Branch ran the department. A considerable part of the time was spent going down the stairs
to the basement when the air raid siren went off and climbing back up again.
In June 1941 I joined the Home Guard at the age of 17. Our time was occupied in street fighting practice in derelict bombed houses and guard duty in the playground of a local school - Tollington. Guard duty ended at midnight as it was thought that the Germans would not invade after that. The street fighting rounded off with a visit to the pub. Anxious to get to the pub before closing, the platoon, running down the hill, was stopped by an elderly lady who enquired whether the Germans had arrived.
My older brother volunteered for the tanks and after training at Tidworth, went to Sandhurst and then joined the Westminster Dragoons, later transferring to the 5th Royal Tank Regiment, 7th Armoured Division - 鈥楾he Desert Rats鈥�. The two sons of our next door neighbour were both in the Territorial Army before the war in the tanks and served during the war; the youngest in the 3rd R.T.R.
On the 25th June 1942 I volunteered at Recruiting Centre Holloway, North London N7 and was attested by a Major Wrigley MC. I attended a medical examination - Height - 5ft 8 and a half, weight 117lbs, chest 34 inches - and on August 6th 1942 reported for duty at the Primary Training Wing, Bovington Camp and completed my training with 35 Troop 鈥楥鈥� Squadron, 58th Training Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps

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