大象传媒

Extract from the diaries of Frank Masters who at the time of Dunkirk
In 1940 was a trained nurse and a Corporal in the Royal Medical Corps.

In 1938 the rise of Hitler was of some concern and the run down state of the armed forces caused the government to introduce a form of conscription which resurrected an old title used in similar circumstances in the last century 鈥� The Militia. Young men aged 20 were to be called up for a period of six months military training. There would be a new all purpose uniform to be called battledress which could be worn by Navy, Army and Air Force, would only have one badge of rank and no indication as to the unit to the which the wearer belonged and it buttoned up to the neck. By the end of the war all officers and many other ranks wore ties, badges of rank on both sleeves or epaulette, displayed medal ribbons and numerous titles indicating corps or regiment, divisional signs and long service stripes. Berets of differing colours with cap badges had replaced the forage cap that could be turned into a makeshift balaclava. The gaiters to secure the trouser bottoms over the boots in 1939 survived with the exception of the determination of many officers to be different by using the short puttee in place of the gaiter.
The Militia men were issued with a new walking out dress 鈥� a black blazer and a pair of grey flannels. Today the dress favoured by all ex-servicemen who proudly display their old regimental badge or crest on the breast pocket.
Having reached the age of twenty in March 1939 my calling up papers arrived. My friend Harry Rawlinson who used to live two doors away in Statton Road came round that evening to display a similar set of papers. We had both toyed with the idea of joining the army a few years before after we left school and found it most difficult to obtain work. Now we both had steady work and I was due to sit another examination as I attended night school and had certificates in shorthand, typing basic accounting. The examination for the College of Preceptors Business and Accounting Certificate was to be held at the end of 1939 being an acceptable qualification to begin a correspondence course to obtain a professional qualification on account of my failure to obtain a creditable school leaving certificate. This was the only way most people could progress as attendance at University had to be paid for by the student.
Harry and I studied the papers carefully and found in very small print at the bottom of the page a note to the effect that if you were a member of the Territorial Army return the form showing your name rank and number and the unit to which you belonged and take no further action. My brother and I had a car, a 1932 12 horse power Morris bought for twenty pounds, so Harry and I decided to tour the Drill Halls with the objective of joining the Territorial Army on an occasional part time basis instead of the militia for six months. We visited many drills, probably about a dozen, and found that everybody seemed to be joining the TA and the units were being rather selective. I was an acceptable recruit at all of them because I had a driving licence, an unusual achievement in those does when comparatively few people could drive a car. Harry had a 鈥減rovisional licence鈥� as he wanted to learn to drive when he could find someone to teach him without payment.
By about nine o鈥檆lock we arrived at a Drill Hall in Rathbone Road and were offered acceptance if we were prepared to drive ambulances. We were in and hastily signed the papers, had a medical examination, swore our allegiance and given the Kings shilling. We were now fully fledged soldiers in the 164th Field Ambulance RAMC. Parade nights were on a Tuesday for a couple of hours from about eight to ten o鈥檆lock. On the next Drill night we were issued with our uniform, the old first world war pattern jacket with brass buttons, a pair of trousers, a side hat and an RAMC cap badge. 鈥淒idn鈥檛 the ambulance drivers belong to the Royal Army Service Corps we asked ? 鈥� 鈥榊es鈥� came the reply from the storeman. Then why have you issued Medical Corps badges we pressed. Because we are not recruiting Ambulance drivers now so you have been transferred into the RAMC. So what, we were in something and having sent the call up papers back with our name, rank and number scrawled on the bottom, we had avoided the Militia and were in the Territorial Army.
Harry and I took great interest in our training and soon joined up with Frank Austin and Frank Stubbs to form a first aid team which became leaders in the art of fixing a Thomas鈥檚 splint, a basic necessity if we were to enter into competition. This we did and became champion first aid team in the North West and Midlands. After a couple of months we noticed about a dozen soldiers disappeared after first parade and only return to last parade 鈥� on both parades the roll was called and absence from either one meant no attendance credited for that evening. We discreetly found out these chaps were in a band of drums and bugles and spent some of their parade time playing cards in an outside hut. I had been a drummer in Scouts and Harry borrowed a bugle and mastered the technique in double quick time. We both volunteered for the band and after an audition were accepted, hence no more marching up and down the drill hall for a couple of hours on each training night.
An interesting little story comes to mind. A S/Sgt McGee was the senior NCO in A Company, a tough foul mouthed scouser and very strict disciplinarian. One night we were not drilling to his complete satisfaction, or even if we were he would still throw verbal abuse at somebody. The recipient of his tirade on this occasion happened to be like a large number who joined up at that time, a Grammar School product, well spoken and at times aloof, and he was the right marker against whom the soldiers had to form up on parade 鈥� unfortunately on the command right turn he turned to the left. The language was rich and degrading, and when McGee stopped for breath, Wilson-Parry, the right marker, in true army stile took one pace forward and decreed in a loud voice 鈥淪taff Sergeant, Sir, I am sorry I turned the wrong way but if you talk to me like that again I shall go home immediately and I won鈥檛 come back鈥� McGee was speechless or if he did speak his words were drowned by the spontaneous outburst of laughter. Wilson-Parry made his point and there is no charge in Kings Regulations that would fit his response into a crime.
In August 1939 we went to camp on the Gower peninsular in Wales. We slept on a groundsheet with two blankets about ten to a bell tent. Unfortunately it rained persistently to such an extent that we were flooded out of the tents on two or three occasions and we had a number of sick. One night there seemed to develop a mild epidemic of influenza and pneumonia was also diagnosed and I recall a doctor, who knew I could drive a car giving me the keys to his big Morris Saloon and asking me to take some to the sick to Swansea General hospital. Most of the sick came from the unit who were camped in the adjoining fields, 5th Battalion The Kings Liverpool Regiment, who were there to keep the peace between The Liverpool Scottish and The Liverpool Irish and any Welshmen who could fill the role of antagonist. Lying fully clothed in a drunken stupor in a waterlogged tent gave encouragement to the bugs carrying the maladies from which they would ultimately suffer. I suppose by sending the Brigade to Wales the powers that be considered it to be a neutral country.
During the camp the band managed to extradite itself from some of the adventurous exercises by joining a route march for the last mile back to camp in an effort to keep the unfortunate infantrymen on their feet. However we also received some good training in dealing with the soldiery who had been involved in accidents in training, returning from the pubs in Swansea at night, or the Scots and Irish trying to settle a difference of opinion. Remember in those days the 17th March (Paddy鈥檚 Day) and 12th July (King Billie鈥檚 Day) were earmarked days for confrontation in Liverpool.
Continued.....
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