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This story has been added to the people’s war website by a ´óÏó´«Ã½ volunteer Liz Goddard on behalf of Harry Knight . Mr Knight fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

My physical health being poor when I joined the army in March 1940 I was only accepted for service in a non combatant unit and was accepted as a clerk in the Royal Army Pay Corps — RAPC. I was somewhat surprised to learn that it was possible to sign for a regular service of five years with the colours and 7 on reserve with trade pay and automatic promotion at extended rates up to quarter master sergeant. I was appointed to lead an audit section with responsibility for looking after pay accounts for personnel serving in the Royal Army medical Corps RAMC, Queen Alexander’s military nursing, QAIMES AUXILIARY Territorial ATS and Corps of Military Police CMP amounting to 261,000 accounts excluding commissioned officers whose pay was managed at the War office. Our responsibility was to ensure that everyone one of those personnel received a statement of their pay account situation and rank wherever they were serving in the field of war every three months. Our battalion of the RAPC was headed by one full colonel (administration) one half colonel one regimental sergeant major (admin) and one sergeant major (staff). When I joined the fore it was situated at Folkestone but when the evacuation of Dunkirk occurred the war office rightly considered it inadvisable to keep us in Folkestone since we had only basic military training and gave us forty eight hours notice to pack up all our paperwork for transport by train up to Kidderminster in Worcestershire, where (also a 48 hours notice) the local authority were to find a suitable building for our office but also living accommodation for 1000 military men and 1000 ATS.

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