大象传媒

Serving in the RAF Medical Service

When I joined the British Red Cross in 1938 I applied to serve in the RAMC in the event of war, and expected to be called upon soon after war was declared. But by February 1940 all Red Cross colleagues of my age in my detachment had joined HM Forces, so enquiries were made about my application form. The War Office replied that they had no trace of it. So I started again, this time volunteering for the RAF Medical Service. Then, because the RAF did not want me until December 1940, I was left to patiently wait through the rest of the 鈥減honey war鈥� and the Dunkirk withdrawal (with the rueful feeling that I could have been of some help), followed by three months鈥� work in the London Blitz.. When I eventually finished the training period in the RAF I was posted to Northern Ireland. For well over three years, apart from two severe all-night air raids on Belfast and other minor enemy action, life was a complete contrast from that in the London Blitz, and far less dangerous! Those air raids on Belfast came as an unwelcome surprise, because the people of Northern Ireland had been fairly confident that loaded German bombers had not the range to get to Belfast and return to their bases. How wrong can one be! When the casualty figures and the damage were known, Belfast had certainly had its share of civilian suffering in the war.

When I first went to Northern Ireland the great fear was that the enemy would invade through the Irish Republic, but of course that did not happen. After three years of routine work in sick quarters and occasional excitement of being called out to an accidental aircraft crash, I thought I had been forgotten by the 鈥渂rass hats鈥� who decided where we should serve! But much later I knew that I had been remembered for service elsewhere: I went to an airstrip in the Burmese jungle. However, the journey took many weeks, and by the time I reached the 鈥渇orward area鈥� the Japanese were in full retreat. After only three months, which included one long move forward, my unit was ordered back to India to prepare to invade Malaya. Many more weeks on the move found us in the Madras Province, where all equipment was packed and waterproofed; then we waited for two squadrons of Mosquitoes to join us before we moved to the port of Madras to sail on the invasion. The aircraft did not come - in the event they were not needed, for the atom bombs were dropped and forced the Japanese surrender. We were told later that it had been fortunate that the invasion became unnecessary because the Japanese Army were sitting on the Malayan coast waiting for us to approach.

No doubt many Allied lives were saved, but what a horrific way to end the war. Although we now stepped into a peaceful atmosphere and could start to rebuild our lives (having been robbed of six years), to rebuild our scarred cities, and to rebuild our country鈥檚 economy 鈥� a daunting task 鈥� the thought was there that our enemies might have produced an atom bomb ahead of us, and instead of Hiroshima and Nagasaki the cities might have been, say, Birmingham and Liverpool.. Probably most people鈥檚 minds retreated from such thoughts at the time, but contemplation about warfare in future could not 鈥� and still cannot 鈥� be put aside.

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