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.

At the end of our fortnight in Wales I was asked by the Adjutant, who had discovered I could write shorthand and type, if I would be prepared to join the 鈥淎dvanced Party鈥� if there was to be any likelihood of our being called to the colours as the TA had been for a short period in 1938. They needed someone with clerical experience. I agreed when it was explained it was most unlikely it would happen and if it did it would only be for a few weeks. I went back to my job in the Finance Department (it consisted of two people and I was one of them) and within a week the telephone rang and the Chief Clerk in the TA told me to go home, pack my kit, bring some sandwiches, and report as soon as possible to the Drill Hall, preferably within the hour. As I was making up the wages (putting the cash into envelopes) for the Council manual workers I told him I could not make it, so he spoke to the Clerk of the Council, Mr. H E.H.Lawton who told me do as I had been ordered by the Chief Clerk
About half an hour later another lad in the office, Jim Dooley, who had also joined the TA to avoid conscription into the Militia received a similar call. We said cheerio to each other and agreed we would meet again in a few weeks time back at the office. We did both return and meet again in the office 鈥� seven years later 鈥� not quite as unfortunate as a couple of the younger lads in the office who were eventually called up for service in the RAF and the Royal Navy but did not return.
Unfortunately my mother was away on holiday with my brother and I was staying in Stoneville Road with my Aunt Gertrude and her husband Frank who, because he was unemployed was at home when I arrived as I did not have a key. I told him what was happening, picked up my clothes and went to my own home, changed into uniform and reported to the Drill Hall. We were immediately set to work typing nominal rolls (photo copiers had not been invented) and taking in turn to sit by the telephone to await a codeword which whoever answered the phone had to acknowledge and then go and find the one officer who was in the barracks. The officers who were all doctors seemed to come in for a shift then go back to work or home. A few days later on a Friday lunch time, I was on the phone duty when it rang, I was asked my name rank and number then given the codeword and asked if I knew what to do. I then went over to the little caf茅 opposite which was set up in the front room of a small terraced house and where we were fed three times per day and found Major Pycroft the 2i/c who happened to be on duty. He had to go back to the office ring a number, give name rank and number and acknowledge receipt of the dreaded code word , which meant the Territorial Army was now under Orders to mobilise.
Things then became hectic and the only phone in the office was used to inform the Commanding Officer and we then threaded our way through a list previously prepared of personnel who had to be informed. The news was broadcast on the Radio that evening and all TA personnel told to report immediately or as soon as possible to their own Drill Hall. I was then given the job of checking each individual into the Drill Hall where they had to lay out their kit. If it was complete they were then sent to the accommodation that had been requisitioned by the Quartermaster. HQ stayed in the Drill Hall and the huts at the rear, A company in All Saints Church Hall, Cunningham Road and B Company in the Parish hall, next door in Broadgreen Road. I was in A company and my bed (three blankets on the floor) was in the same spot I occupied as a Sunday School Teacher. Those who were deficient of items of kit were sent home to retrieve them or had to pay for any deficiency. When these formalities were sorted out all the arrivals were put on the payroll at two shilling per day. For the first week we were fed at the Cattle Market Hotel next to the abattoir in Prescot Road being transported there and back on an open flat bottomed truck with no sides 鈥� a really hairy experience especially when it was raining. Makeshift kitchens were erected at the rear of The Drill Hall in Rathbone Road and we had to march there from our billets three times per day when we were finally settled.
During the first few days of mobilisation the five members of the advance party worked incessantly with very little sleep getting the show on the road but it was an enjoyable experience having such responsibility and being part of a very good team.
On Sunday the third of September we were mustered and marched round the corner to Church for morning service. The choir came in at eleven o鈥檆lock and the congregation looked around for the Vicar, Mr. Whitley. I saw my mother and brother sitting in their usual places and we all sat down and waited wondering about the delay. The Vicar then came from the vestry at the back of the Church and went straight up into the pulpit and announced to a strangely silent congregation that it had just been announced on the radio that as Germany had not responded to the demands of Great Britain and France to withdraw from its excursion into Poland by eleven o鈥檆lock we were at war. I could not look at my mother but I was aware of her eyes looking at me with fear and concern that history would repeat itself. In a way I was glad we were marched out of Church and back to our billets and it was not until that evening that I got the opportunity to go home some three quarters of a mile away where the news was accepted without any display of emotion 鈥� we were like that as a family, probably afraid of showing our feelings and never did 鈥� hugs, kisses were never ever a part of the scene; we relied on understanding, belief in God and respect for the other persons innermost feelings and that鈥檚 how I grew up, a private person, unemotional to the outside world.
Part l and Part 2 orders were produced for the 1st September the day we were officially mobilised and when my friends came to congratulate me before I had seen them I thought it was part of a joke but a trip to the notice board was rewarding when I saw under Appointments and Promotions that I had been made a full Corporal and would be able to proudly wear two stripes on my arm. I could not believe it could happen to me and went to see S/Sgt Mooney who had also been on the advance party
and he confirmed the appointment and that he had made the recommendation.
Broadgreen Road school playground where I played between the ages of five and eleven as a scholar now became the drill square and we trained every day to acquire the skills we would need to nurse and tend the wounded should our services be required. We were allowed to go home in the evenings when not on duty to return by ten o鈥檆lock and enjoyed nipping home for a meal as often as I could, even though the army meals were not too bad and I had the advantage of being fed in the Sergeants Mess, as were all the full Corporals, until we moved from Liverpool.
The RASC contingent arrived to drive our vehicles which were all, except the ambulances, commandeered civilian vehicles, painted khaki, a paint inadequate for the task as the names of the previous owners soon showed through, my vehicle was previously owned by Pickfords the removal firm. The RASC were billeted in St. Oswald鈥檚 Parish Hall, in St. Oswald鈥檚 Street. Occasionally we had to load our vehicles with all the equipment issued to the unit and ourselves and spend a few hours travelling around the outskirts of Liverpool whilst the drivers learnt their convoy drill. Little did we realise the long uncomfortable hours we would spend in those vehicles between September 1939 and June 1940.
Rumours started circulating about a move and these were heightened when we were issued with the new battle dress and our old uniforms withdrawn. What a relief as many hours had been spent polishing buttons with a rag, a button stick and a tin of brasso we had to take out of our fourteen shillings per week less a shilling for barrack damages 鈥� Was this a QM鈥檚 perk ?

Continued...
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