大象传媒

This story was submitted to the the People's War site by Stoke-on-Trent Libraries on behalf of Sam and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was an electrician in the RAF in the war. I did training at Blackpool, Hereford and Warwickshire. In Warwickshire I worked on the HQ building. In 1942 I was sent abroad; however, before I could go I was diagnosed with appendicitis. I spent three weeks in hospital and missed the draft and was sent to Tern Hill.

At the kit inspection before I left Warwick I had no gumboots. I was going to be charged for them but luckily I had a deficiency chit to vouch for my lack of them.

I was married in 1941 so I'd come home any chance I got, pass or no pass. We used to go dancing when I came home at Cobridge Hall. It cost around a shilling. I only remember having soft drinks. One weekend I came home on the train (I'd normally hitchhike to Newcastle and get the Reliance bus to Tunstall). It was raining on the Saturday when I came home - the Sunday was a gorgeous day and I was stuck in my greatcoat. I got to Birmingham on my way back carrying my coat. It was 1.00pm and I'd got 16 miles to travel by 1.30 when I was on duty. I was running like mad and went slap, bang into an RAF policeman. He asked me what was the hurry and I told him I was late for lunch.

In Tunstall there was a roller skating rink just by the baths in Greengate Street. It was closed during the war and became a storage depot for food. After the war it was Taylor's Supermarket.

At Tern Hill I was billeted in a terraced house, 2 up, 2 down, three men in each room. We had virtually no facilities - a cold tap and a toilet, that's all. A van came round at 9.00pm and brought us a cup of cocoa. We had to travel three miles to the cookhouse - we all had a bike and the down bar was painted yellow to show it was RAF issue. From Tern Hill I could cycle home in two hours.

One chap, Sgt Strauli, had permission to live out of camp. You couldn't 'live out' past a 21 mile radius of the camp. When we discovered this, five of us from Tunstall applied to live out and got it! We used to cycle to Market Drayton from Tern Hill, leave the bikes in the stable at the Corbet Arms and then come back to Tunstall on the bus.

In 1945 I got sent abroad to Sorrento. Then in 1946 I was moved to Venice. I left the RAF in 1946 and had reached the rank or corporal.

Shibah Blues was a well known RAF song. Shibah was Iraq and everyone dreaded being sent there: desert, heat, sand and miles from anywhere.

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