大象传媒

Having taken part in the Normandy landings on D-Day, and being fortunate enough to survive unharmed, I was returned to my base in Scotland to prepare for the proposed further landings in the South of France.
However, it was soon established that, because Patton had made such progress with his tank units, and the push in Italy was going well,an aditional amphibious assault was not required.
While waiting for a decision to allocate our
next assignment, I reflected how much longer
the war would last - would I survive again, and where would I be when hostilities ceased?
Eventually it was decided that,in view of the vast improvements made in communication generally, my job as an Operator, Wireless and Line with Combined Operations Command should be up-graded to Operator, Wireless and Keyboard.
No more Morse-bashing at thirty words per minute. Instead, we were the new elite, punching out morse symbols on to tape to send by automatic machines, and in turn receiving tape from the other end, transposing it into plain language or code.
Firstly, we had to learn to type.!
Off we went to a training unit in Scarborough, where we were billeted in a
requisitioned seaside hotel- and every day we had music.Literally so, because, as a means of teaching a rhythmic form of touch-typing, a musical beat was essential.Hitting blank keys to the time of the music beat, we started with a slow fox-trot, and ended some months later with the Post Horn Gallop.
Back to base we reported, armed with our Certificates of Merit, to be advised that we would soon be having a crack at the Japanese.
Two weeks' Embarkation Leave was granted,which co-incided with the V.E.Day celebrations, and for the first time in years I was with my parents and immediate family to celebrate with them...
Southampton again, but this time it was not
embarkation on a very small Landing Craft, but the luxury liner "Capetown Castle", which had plied between the U.K.and South Africa. No luxury now, though - the beautiful fixtures and fittings had been removed to make way for hammocks and bunk beds for six hundred troops.
With the war in Europe over, we could travel
through the Med and Suez Canal with safety,and quite enjoyed life on board until we disembarked at Bombay.
Our small unit had brought with us some eighty tons of aerial and other equipment, and when this was off-loaded into a huge warehouse we had to keep it company for one week as it was so valuable. It meant sleeping on the concrete floor, and we did not enjoy that.
Eventually, we entrained, and spent many days suffering the rigours of primitive rail carriages, which were no better than cattle trucks.
Well down in Southern India we reached Madras, where we learnt that we would have to unload our equipment and re-load it on another train, as the broad-gauge line ended there, being replaced by a narrow-gauge one.
It meant a one-night stop-over, so it was decided to spend the evening at a local cinema in Madras. Quite an experience for several reasons.
The film was flickering, when it was not breaking down: the language we did not understand;the betel-nut chewing and spitting was horrible - but then.......
the screen went blank; a hand-written note in English was projected; it said.." The Japanese have surrendered; the War is over."

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