大象传媒

This story has been submitted to the People's War website by Liz Andrew of the Lancshomeguard on behalf of Deryk Bailey and added to the site with his permission.

I was fourteen when the War started and I lived in Bolton. I went to Art School till I was sixteen and then I worked as a signwriter till I was called up at the age of eighteen. At the time there was a paper shortage, of course, and I had to hand paint the hoardings. It was freezing up on the ladders.

The winter of 1940/1941 was very bad - it was the time of the Manchester Blitz. I remember the Air Raids and the shrapnel falling all over the place. We all had to go to the shelters and being winter we were cold and had to try and keep warm. We used to put a candle inside an earthenware plant pot and then another one on top of it like a little convector.

Our own shelter became flooded so we had to go to the public one across the fields. In it there were servicemen on leave, wounded personnel, all sorts. I wasn't too thrilled about the lack of sleep.

I was called up in 1943 when I was eighteen and sent to Cameron Barracks in Inverness for basic training. I didn't like it. I remember lots of bagpipes! We even used to march to the Baths behind a piper.Then I was sent to join the Reconnaissance Corps in Scarborough. We did lots of manoeuvres, we had to climb Oliver's Mount and black our faces for nightime exercises. I remember there was an anti aircraft battery on top and once, when we found nobody on guard, one of our officers took the block out of the gun and took it to the Guard room. The chaps who should have been on guard all had their names and numbers taken.

But the Reconnaisance Unit was disbanded and I was posted to drive lorries for the Royal Army Service Corps.

They wanted volunteers for the Motorboat Company so I joined them. I had done a cooking course and began to cook on motor vessels. First I was in Rothesay in Scotland, then on the Isle of Wight and then I finished up in the Army of Occupation in Dusseldorf.

The best part of all was Dusseldorf. There was a Club called the 94 Club on the banks of the Rhine. There was a Cabaret every night and we used to dance with the German girls. It was the first time I had been abroad and I got on pretty well with the Frauleins. The Germans all called me Ted - Deryk was too posh for them!I didn't admit it at the time - but mine was really a very good war!

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