大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Sally Crane for Three Counties Action on behalf of Mr Stan Brownridge, Flight Sergeant No 988901 and has been added to the sight with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.
MR THOMAS STANLEY MOSBY BROWNRIDGE

HOW NOT TO POLISH A FLOOR

I was training in Leeds Training College as a teacher and at the outbreak of war we were evacuated to Scarborough, not to save our lives, but the government wanted our premises for a hospital. I stayed in Scarborough until April 1940. During the holidays I went to my home in Garforth in the West Riding of Yorshire. The women near my home came to the garden or the house to ask for work on my fathers raspberry and strawberry business. They used to quarrel with each other 鈥淚 was here, before you were,鈥� that sort of thing. He could only employ up to 20 so he had to turn some away. The pay was 2d an hour just imagine working for 2d an hour. Raspberries were only 6d a pound, some years he made very little profit. At training college in Scarborough I did my final school practice in Filey. In the mornings I taught the children who lived in Filey and the afternoon the evacuees from Northumberland. So children only got half a day teaching. This was because of numbers and this happened everywhere. They rarely met, they were never on the school-premises at the same time.

I was called up on 1st May 1940, to Cardington, a recruiting camp for all airmen. Then to Wilmslow for my recruit training for square bashing. On my first night in the RAF I thought that my four rough blankets (no sheets allowed) smelled strongly of floor polish. I discovered the reason a few days later when the barrack room floor was being polished prior to a commanding officers inspection. One man would sit on a blanket, two more would pull the 鈥榖lanket sledge鈥� over the floor at great speed. After Wilmslow I went to Acklinton near Ashington, Northumberland. On May 27th 1940 the evacuation of Dunkirk happened. At Acklington, I filled sand bags during the day and 鈥渄efended鈥� the airfield at night against the expected invasion. Trenches had been dug around the perimeter of the airfield, and we were armed with Lee Enfield guns, for which I had had no training. Every recruit had to be vaccinated against smallpox and for some reason I reacted very badly. I was covered with hives, my face swelled, my mouth swelled, with a rash all over my body. I recovered in a fortnight but it came back every Spring and Autumn for 20 years and more

In Jun/July 1940 I went to Uxbridge to train as a physical training instructor and was promoted to Corporal. At the end of July 1940 I was posted to Weeton near Blackpool as an RAF physical training instructor. I was promoted to Sergeant and stayed until April 1945. Technical Training Command Weeton Camp had 5 wings roughly 1000 men per wing and each wing specialised in some form of technical training - blacksmiths, sheet metal workers, instrument makers, fabric worker, parachute packers, and the driving and maintenance of vehicles. Because of the volume of work and my injury I was chiefly involved in administration duties.

While I was a training Instructor, we had to do so much physical exercise including cross country and commando courses, I developed a severe pain in the spine. The doctors did not know whether it was, spondylitis? arthritis, so they proposed to pull out all my teeth. They put me in a plaster jacket for 2-3 months. Eventually I was sent to the Air Ministry to see a Harley Street specialist, an Army major, who immediately diagnosed my problem without even undressing me as a slipped disc. He personally did the operation. I believe I was one of the first three in this country to have this operation. Which is why, I thought I was a guinea pig. It was a major operation. They said it could be even worse after the operation.

While I was stationed at Weeton it was my custom prior to going on leave, to shoot a hare to augment my family鈥檚 meat ration. On one occasion at about 8.00am I was surprised to find the camp鈥檚 playing field devoid of hares, normally several would be scampering about early in the morning. In my disappointment, I broke my gun, crossed a bridge into a private field where I could see mushrooms growing in abundance. Almost immediately I was confronted by a game-keeper and the gun was snatched from my hands. Of course, I was taken to court and charged with poaching. Naturally, I pleaded not guilty because I knew I was innocent. To my surprise a hare was produced in court. When I asked what time the shot was heard, I was told by the game-keeper that it was at 7.00am. I then remarked that I could produce a thousand witnesses to prove that at 7.00am I was not only in camp but speaking on the tannoy as the duty Sergeant calling reveille. The charge was dropped and the gun returned to me. Obviously I was not the only hare hunter on that morning.

During my six years service in the RAF during the war I had to visit London many times for meetings and interviews. During the blitz in the early morning or late evening I had to step over sleeping people - even families - on the floor of the underground platforms. The 鈥榓tmosphere鈥� was stale to foul. Fortunately, during the blitz I had to sleep in London only once. I was accommodated in a services upper flat in the Strand. The room was filled with some 50 service men mostly sleeping on the floor. Our building was literally rocked for some two hours and there was a constant sound outside not only of explosions but of the fire-brigades and ambulances. As this was my first and only experience of the blitz, I was petrified and longed to find an air-raid shelter. However, everyone else ignored the confusion and most slept soundly. I contained my fear but did not sleep!

End of Part One

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