´óÏó´«Ã½

Interview with Cyril Henry Rowland

Born 30th May 1912, and lived on Liverpool Street, Salford.

Family members — mother, father, brother and himself.

Father was an insurance clerk working for Royal Exchange Assurance, King Street, Manchester. Mother did not work.

I went to Seedley Council School until I was 10 and then I went to a private Pendleton Grammar School until I left to start work, at just under 15, I’d say 14 and 9 months or something. I went into the textile industry, working for a firm called the Fine Cotton Spinners, in St James’ Square, Manchester. I remained there until war was declared. I don’t really remember when war was declared, but my memory is not so good these days because of a stroke. I was called up the middle of 1940, into the Royal Signals, somewhere in Yorkshire. I did basic training there and then went to Glasgow on a course at the Post Office in electricity and magnetism and I stayed there until the end of 1940 and on New Year’s Day, 1 Jan 1941 I embarked for India. I can’t remember the name of the ship but it must have been a cruise ship before. A troop ship. We went on our own. We had to hug the side of West Africa, East Africa, South Africa, because of the submarines. We stopped at Durban, South Africa a few days, then we stopped in East Africa because we were chased into the harbour by U boats and then we went on to Bombay, and then a place called Abatabad and from there I went on to Robindi and a place called Coat, on the border of Afghanistan, and then Puna. We were training in signals, as a wireless operator. From there we went to Iraq, Kirkook in Iraq, and then from Kirkook into Tehran, so I was three years between Iraq and Iran. In Iraq, we were in conjunction with Baghdad and on the other, in Tehran, as a wireless operator. Just our own forces, it was only a group of lads, only 4 of us on duty at a time, receiving messages in morse code. The messages were handed to us and then during 1943, I think, I went up to Tehran. There was a conference on between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin and I was based in the legation in Tehran, operating signal traffic. I only met the foreign minister, Antony Eden, and then from there I went on to Egypt and I was in Alexandria. I was involved in signal traffic, only for a few months. I went up to Israel for a spell and then back to Alexandria in 1945. I got notice to say I was being sent home on leave. We were just there for leave, in Israel. The officer in charge says, ‘pack your bags, you’re going home now’. I says ‘why?’, he says ‘you’re wanted at home’, in 1944. ‘Do you know a Captain Rowland?’, I said ‘yes, he’s my brother’. He said ‘well, he’s given instructions for you to go home, you’re wanted’. So I got home. I went to Cairo, waited in Cairo for 4 days until the plane came in, came home, landed at Cornwall and from there, home, by train, from Cornwall to London and London to Manchester.

I got home and went back to work. They gave me three months paid leave so I went back to work for three months into the offices and from there, when I was recalled, after the three months, to North Wales. I was there for two weeks to pick up a new uniform and from there we went on to Belgium, Ostend and from there on to Germany. We went over the Channel and by road. The action was over then. We went into Germany just outside Hanover. We were supposed to take over a telephone exchange but I was one of the fortunate ones, I was in the billet. We were billeted in a house that hadn’t been bombed. We were billeted there until a time came for us to come home. It was normal really in Hanover then, but buildings were badly damaged. The properties were nice properties, three or four stories high and in these houses the garage was underneath the house. We didn’t meet any German people. From there it was home. I was only there about 3 or 4 months in Germany, early 1946 I was demobbed and went back to work in the offices and I remained there for 50 years. We were taken over, the cotton industry then was not in the best state so we were taken over by another firm and another firm too. Then Courtaulds took us over and then a Dutch firm took over Courtaulds. I stayed there until I was 65. There was no action, just messages in and out. Never the spoken word, always morse. There was no contact with the people on the other end. Eventually I found it easy to understand. After we had training they came and said, ‘Right, you’re efficient now to transpose these messages’. I understood it at the time but I couldn’t do it now. It was very interesting and I didn’t see any action at all. It was always the same key that you tapped on.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.