大象传媒

The Second World War
The Martin Family

Chapter 2

A Civilian鈥檚 and A Matelot鈥檚 View

When I left school the war had been on for some four years. The Allies had fought their way across North Africa and started to invade Italy there was no indication of when the war in Europe would end.
The war in Asia against the Japanese was causing many casualties and one could see no sign of the end of hostilities in this theatre of the war either.
In this environment one lived for survival in the present and the immediate future. Future planning for after the war was never considered as one could not even guess when the war may end, or what conditions would then prevail.

It was very apparent that I would be called up at age 18, so for the few months between school leaving and being called up I entered the Civil Service.

I was allocated to the Admiralty and duly reported one Monday morning as a Junior Temporary Clerk- the lowest of the low! Let me hasten to let you know that we were not in the well known Admiralty building but in ordinary office accommodation in the West End.

It was an interesting exercise to see the Admiralty at work on a wartime basis.
In my Section there were a number of temporary people, like myself, who were of extremely different backgrounds and thrown together to keep the Navy supplied with various items of equipment.
One very tall well built man in his 30鈥檚 was frequently to be heard shouting down the telephone and sounding like a market street trader.
Conversely another man of similar age was very introspective with a stutter and wouldn鈥檛 say boo to a goose.
My boss was a Higher Clerical Officer aged about 50 going on 70. Very dry, very dour and never showed any sense of humour.
The lady opposite him was very much the well-heeled lady. She had a quiet air of authority, lived in Kensington, frequently took taxis and visited the Turkish baths.
Although well intentioned, she really was not fully aware of the items with which she was dealing. On one occasion she attempted to send 10 huge aircraft engine parts to Simonstown, South Africa. Fortunately someone queried it before any action was taken.
The only other female on the department was a married lady about 35 years old who took an early opportunity to tell me that if there were any telephone calls for Miss Jones, that was her maiden name, and the calls were for her.
Another character was a chap who dealt with Braziers. He would also shout down the telephone that he wished to discuss Copper Sheathed Braziers. 鈥淣o! No!鈥� he would bellow 鈥淏raziers!, Copper Sheathed Braziers鈥� Whatever they may be.

We were not bothered to any great degree during the daytime by the German Air Force at this time. It was quite pleasant to take sandwiches and eat them in St James Park.

At this juncture of the war the coal industry was extremely short of miners and it was essential that this should be remedied as soon as possible.
A scheme was introduced whereby a number between 0 and 9 would be pulled out of the hat (and I understand this was done literally) on the 1st day of each month.
If you were 18 that month and your Identity Card number ended with the one drawn then you were allocated to the coalmines for the duration of the war.

There was an option to avoid this possibility, which was taken by a number of people, including myself. That was to volunteer at age 17 陆 for the Service of your choice and for a branch within that Service, subject to suitable education and medical requirements.
The last place I wanted to be was down the coal mines so I volunteered for the Fleet Air Arm as a Photographer. I had been interested in photography for some time and when a friend from our local Youth Club came home on leave having just qualified as a Photographer it seemed the natural path to follow.

On 22nd May 1944 I was called up and was sent to Butlins holiday camp at Skegness
to get kitted out and learn some very basic drill.
We were just ending our two weeks there, when on June 6th, at breakfast, we heard the news over the Tannoy, that the Allies had landed in France.

After six weeks basic training at Malvern I was posted to Felpham, Bognor, for my four months photographic course.
.
During the latter part of the course with the right weather conditions at night, one could see the flashes and hear the sound of the bombardment in France.

Following the satisfactory completion of the course I was posted to Lee on Solent, the main draft centre for the Fleet Air Arm. Whilst I was there I managed to get home once or twice.

On one occasion in September 1944 Len was home on leave and our cousin Rene was also there.
That was the first and last time we were both together in uniform.
A few weeks later Len was posted as 鈥楳issing鈥� on the 7th November 1944 following the sinking of LST 420 off the French coast near Ostend, just three weeks after his 24th birthday.

Subsequently I was posted to another shore base, H.M.S Gosling near Warrington for a few months. Then I was drafted to HMS Waxwing, the foreign draft centre near Stirling, Scotland. It was my luck, that I was in the local Dunfermline hospital with Mumps for VE day on 8th May 1945.
Whilst there were great celebrations for the end of the war in Europe, they were somewhat muted for those with relatives still fighting in Burma against the Japanese. There was no sign of the end of this continuing war.

In early June I was again on draft to 889 Squadron, at Woodvale, near Southport. We were a newly formed squadron and we were going to be the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit for the Pacific.
The pilots were training to fly Hellcats into which we fitted a pair of stereo F24 cameras with 36 inch lenses. They were very powerful cameras in their day and provided excellent photos.

It was at this time that two of us were able to take the exam for Leading Photographer.

We were sent on a final 7 days Foreign Draft leave on 14th August 1945 with instructions to report back to the Aircraft Carrier HMS Trouncer in Belfast..

The following day the end of the war with Japan was announced .My leave was extended to 28 days with instruction to report back to the HMS Trouncer in King George 5th Dock, Glasgow.
We waited on the dockside with our kitbags and hammocks (as yet unused) whilst the ship slowly came into dock. The C.O. went aboard and ten minutes later announced that we were not joining the ship but going to RNAS Ayr.

By this time we were all overdue for our ordinary uk leave so we were sent on leave for another 7 days!
After the dispersal of the squadron I was then posted to RNAS Drem, which was just a short train journey from Edinburgh. This was a wonderful posting and I made full use of the Lyceum and Kings theatres whilst staying at the Margaret Tudor House near the Grassmarket when possible.

We were also made welcome at the home of the elderly Mrs Eadie of Morningside Road who 鈥楧id her bit鈥� for the war effort by inviting one or two Servicemen in for a meal. It was very good to get away from service life and into civilian environment for a short while.

Early in 1946 I was on draft again to RNAS Abbottsinch, Strathclyde.
It was here that my promotion to Leading Photographer came through.

I was subsequently detailed to photograph the Royal visit of the King, Queen and the Princesses to Edinburgh and also the Glasgow Victory Parade.
In September I was posted to RNAS Eglinton, Londonderry for a short while and then finally my last draft of all in November to HMS Daedalus 3, Bedhampton, awaiting demobilisation.

I was sent on demobilisation leave as Leading Photographer on 11th November 1946. My leave expired in January 1947, just after my 21st Birthday.

That was when my war finished.

It was a very long time since that 13 year old boy walked down the slipway at Lake, Isle of Wight, a few days before the outbreak of war

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.