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This story was submitted to the Peoples War Site by volunteer John C Haywood 大象传媒 Radio Lincolnshire Action Desk on behalf of Mr J. A. Appleton, and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr Appleton fully understands the site terms and conditions.

I'd began to work in early 1939 at the RAF camp at Binbrook Lincolnshire with about half a dozen other people, and then in the spring of 1940 they asked for volunteers to go to Newton Notts, this was joinery work on the M.T. sheds. I then transfered to Bingham wireless station, and in the mid 40's the powers to be said I should do sheet metal work. My papers came through to report to Gypsy Lane Leicester at the training cetre, then after a crash course I was droughted to Nottingham, to Arkright Street, under the Midland railway line making Spitfire manifolds parts and boxes for tanks. I also got married while I was there.
My papers arrived and I was called up, and in 43 I had to report to the barracks at Lincoln to do six weeks of training, and then on to join the Royal Engineers. The test was to re-build a smooth plane that had been taken apart, quite simple so I thought. I was sent to the Royal Engineers at Longmore Camp Liss in Hampshire and joined the 604 railway construction company. I did basic training including demolition and sent on a welding course around the country. First to Shorditch technical college, then Cricklewood College on the Outer Circle Road, and on to Vauxhall at Luton.
I received embarkation leave to report to Halifax, and a few days later arrived by train at Liverpool Docks. We departed with 5,000 military personal on the P and O liner Arontees and sailed at night in secret to Greenock Scotland to forem a convoy. Two days later we passed around Northern Island, and seemed to be sailing forever, the escort vessels dropped a few depth charges on the way. After many weeks, and the weather getting hotter we arrived at Bombay India, and at mid-day we docked.
We then travelled by train to Deolali, where I re-applied to be a welder on the railway. I completed the course then went to Calcutta and Dumdum transit camp. We went up the Brahmaputra on a river barge to Camilla then back to Chittagon, an awful place, we could cut mosquitoes with a knife the air was that thick. The cookhouse was a little way from the basher, where we ate our food, and on one day I lost part of my dinner when a Kite swooped down and took it. We had been two weeks in Chittagon when the order came through to dye all our kit and ammunition bags to Burma Green.

Later we went to an airstrip which was made up of metal strips, and flew out with the Americans, who let you smoke on the aircraft, but not the RAF. We landed at a small airstrip it was just a cutting in the bush. They then came round and asked for volunteers who could drive. I volunteered with others and we had to collect a convoy of jeeps from up country. We picked up the 12 jeeps and had to cross the longest Bailey Bridge in the world, it was accross the Chittagon river, we slept under the stars and stopped at a place called 'Pink Gin'we then ecountered the roughest road I had ever seen, and on the way the bigest saw mill blade just back in action as the Japanese had left, it was cutting teak brought to the mill by elephants out of the jungle. I still have a peice. It was then one long journey down through Burma accross the Surawally to Mandelay, and on to Prone then back to Mingladon main aerodrome and then on to Rangoon. By this time the atom bomb had been dropped and the war was over.
I had a year down the docks in Rangoon with the American heavy lift ships, bringing in railway trains, then one day I was called to the company office to tell me my release had come through, and would I like to go home. The ship we sailed on was the P.O. mail boat Carthage with twin screws. We pulled in to Ceylon, and came home at a fast pace in three weeks. I remember seeing the white cliffs of Dover, and everyone on board began to cheer. I was issued with civilian clothes together with demob papers and arrived home 1946.

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