大象传媒

The day that war broke out ...
We Boy Scouts felt we were ready, not realising that Ernest Brown, our Scout Master, had been thinking ahead and preparing us for many weeks for what was to come.
He had marched us off to Cobs Hall in Fulham Palace Road so we could be fitted with gas masks.
We found it all very exciting, but I am sure his idea was to make us understand the seriousness of the situation.
He also took us along to South Park, where the football pitch had been dug up to enable us to get at the sand underneath.
The order of the day was filling sandbags; which were for protecting the Town Hall and other important places in Fulham.
Most weekends we camped on Sir William Waldren鈥檚 racing stables at Winkfield, Ascot. This I must say was good experience. Learning to exist in a corner of a field in most weathers was a good preparation for the future in Africa and Italy.
When the time came for me to register for service, I applied for the Air Force because I liked the uniform and also thought they wouldn鈥檛 go overseas.
However when my call-up papers did arrive, to my surprise I was called into the Royal Corps of Signals. Why? Perhaps because of the signalling we did in the Scouts. Who knows?
With my papers was a railway warrant for a train leaving Kings Cross Station at 08.30am on l2th May 1940 to Norwich.
I also seem to remember there was a order for two shillings, my first Army pay.
I sat on the train wondering what was going to happen to me. I hoped that I would get out at the right station, not realising that everybody else was going to the same place, and was very surprised when we all arose together and got out.
We were met by a squad of Corporals who lined us up and marched us through Norwich town with our suitcases.
Our first taste of army discipline came when we were taken to a large warehouse type building where we were lined up, and our particulars taken, papers checked, and then we were given a number. There seemed to be a lot of confusion but in the end after much sorting we were led off in squads to a group of lorries that took us to Diss, a small village in Norfolk.
We were billeted in a large house in its own grounds with I believe a wall all around with large iron gates at the entrance to the drive. I was told it used to be a school, and since the war, has had returned to being a school once again.
We arrived late in the evening and were given a meal, and later were given a large bag containing bell tent which I am sure had not been used since the Great War.
We slept eight to a tent, but of course we had to erect it first. Fortunately we had had one in our troop so I knew how to deal with it. My eight were the first in bed, which meant laying on a ground sheet covered with just two blankets. It was a hard first night.
Later we were issued with palliasses, which were a big improvement.
Once uniforms and boots arrived, we normal sized people were kited out, but the odd sizes had to wear their civilian clothes for another week or two. Boots seemed to be the biggest problem of all.
My first duty in the army was to climb about one hundred stairs to the roof of this large building and watch for parachutists. The area around was very flat so I had a good view, but I did not manage to see anything, which was just as well as the binoculars I was given only had one lens so I did not manage to see anything. Fortunately the German鈥檚 didn鈥檛 know and failed to take the advantage of this.
Our basic training began as infantry because of the invasion scare. We dug trenches in all directions- some faced a lake, which we were told to guard against submarines appearing. (We were new but not green!) The rifles with which we were issued with seemed so big and heavy, and with bayonets attached were much too dangerous for us to handle. It took us more than a few days to get used to carrying them about as they weighed 7lbs.
We had to 鈥淪tand To鈥� every evening for an hour, which meant manning trenches around the camp, each section in turn became a flying picket spending the night on the mess tables fully dressed and armed. At Red Alert we were marched off to a nearby hill. We never actually arrived because 鈥淪tand Down鈥� always came very quickly. As this could happen two or three times a night, it was rather wearing.
The LDV (Local Defence Volunteers) two elderly gentlemen with armbands and a walking stick each, seemed to be around all the time so we felt safe They were the pre-runners of the Home Guard.
At one time during our technical training two of us were sent off to patrol a bridge over a small stream by the village of Thorpe. A nice little job. The only problem was the village was on one side of the stream and the public house was on the other. We were supposed to check everybody after dark so the fun came after the pub a closed, and the old farmers were not in the mood to play soldiers. For us it made change from the classroom, and it made us think that we were real soldiers.
Another duty was Gas Sentry that meant standing in a very lonely spot, in the dark, with your back to a thick dark wood watching a small table that had a green paper on it. I was told it would turn red if gas was dropped. If it had, it would only have got me because there was nobody else for at least 200 yards. I was supposed to call out the guard. Perhaps I did look at the green paper sometimes, when I wasn鈥檛 looking over my shoulder.
After these months of training we sat our exams and I became an Operator Wireless and Line.
We all waited wondering where we would be posted to, I was posted to the 18th Division, which meant I was still with fellows that I had joined up with. However I was with the 18th Division only for a short time and while playing cricket on a Saturday, a despatch rider came and said I was to pack as I had been posted to the 23rd Army Field Regiment.
It was sad leaving those with whom I had joined and I didn鈥檛 even have a chance to say goodbye. Leaving the 18th Division was my first stroke of luck, but not for the boys I left behind! I read after the war that the 18th division had been captured almost before they had landed at Singapore, and spent the rest of the war in Japanese camps and on the railway, the poor devils.
The 23rd Regiment had had a very bad time in France, most were captured. Those that managed to get back brought with them 12 very old French guns with iron wheels and no other equipment. How they managed it I don鈥檛 know. They were put to good use for training.

As a Signal Section we were to supply all communications forward to the three Batteries and back to Division and the Brigade. We waited a long time for our equipment to arrive and when it did, it came in bits and pieces.
It was a very unsettling time for us as we were moved many times, once to Croydon to join a Guards Brigade. Our Section Officer had us out on the road trying to turn us into Guardsmen. We didn鈥檛 do too badly, though fortunately, our Officer soon gave up.
Being stationed in Croydon I was able to get home once or twice for a day to see the family. After a short time at Croydon we were once again moved, this time not far. It was to an open-air swimming pool in St. Mary Cray, Kent, called 鈥淭he Blue Lagoon鈥�. Some of us were stationed in the 鈥淕ents鈥� changing rooms, the others in the 鈥淟adies. Both were the same, draughty and uncomfortable. The pool was empty so it became very dangerous after dark when the pubs closed. The Caf茅 Section became the Mess Room. Not a nice place at all to live in, at all. While there we were told to clean up as a General was coming to inspect us. We were expected to dig the garden by the front gate with our dinner knives. This just didn鈥檛 happen, the digging or the inspection.
Moving once again, we arrived at Charfield in Gloucester, near Bristol into a brickyard that was rather dusty and dirty. Some kilns were still being used and attracted tramps from all over to sleep in the warm kiln after it was empty.
The people around used to wait on their doorsteps to invite us in for meals, they were very kind and wanted to feed us all the time. It got too much sometimes and became very difficult for us to escape, as there was only one way to go from our billet to the Signal Office. I think we confused them sometimes as we said we were going on duty whichever way we were going.
I don鈥檛 remember much more of this place other than on the railway platform was a bronze plaque recording a serious crash in which many people were killed pre-war.
Another happening was that a R.A. sentry managed to shoot himself under the arm. We believe he was careless, and nervous with a loaded rifle in the dark, and with his greatcoat and equipment on it was impossible to know where he had been shot. Regretfully nothing could be done to save him.
Our next move was to Chagford, a lovely little village in Devon, on the edge of Dartmoor. Obviously it was a good base to take our new guns out on to the ranges. We worked hard there. Our wireless sets, telephones etc., arrived so we were out on Dartmoor during the week sleeping rough most nights, when we were allowed to sleep. I think this is where we became a Regiment. Col. Barron, seemed to know what he was doing. During this period, I manned the Colonel鈥檚 wireless set so saw a lot of him. On Saturdays there was a dance in the billet. The big house had a nice dance hall and with good music from a little orchestra, it was very enjoyable. We were always in a hurry to get back on a Saturday for the dance, no matter how tired we were. I think it was on Thursdays and Saturdays that the cinema opened. It was very small, with not enough room for everybody that wanted to see the film. It was first come first served. We operators organised ourselves with our own code over the air, so if you knew you would be first back you contacted your friends to find out how many seats were wanted. We always had seats.
No other entertainment existed in this small village. When we could afford it we bough from the local bakers Cornish pasties, which were full of vegetables. Not bad when you were hungry. I must say though, army food was good, and at times we had liver and green vegetables for breakfast but there was always fresh bread to fill yourselves with if needed.
On Sundays we attended the ancient village church. The Vicar seemed a very understanding man, he always managed to finish just before opening time. On the march back from church, instead of turning left for camp, we turned right and halted in front of the bar.
While here the weather improved and it was lovely to walk beside the little stream that flowed near our quarters.
We were nicely settled when once again we were move, we had only been there for three months, I understand the reason for this was that after three months to many soldiers wanted to get married.
Our next stop was a very large house, called Pit House at Chudleigh Knighton in Devon. There were some very nice rooms and halls, but of course they were not for us. We had Nissan huts made of corrugated iron with small windows at each end. Two tiered iron bunks lined the sides with palliases of straw on them, which we found were comfortable after the hard ground of the moor. The house had a very presentable ballroom and once again a dance was held every Saturday. There was no cinema in the village of Chudleigh Knighton and no entertainment of any kind existed save only the village bars, so the Saturday dance was always welcome. It was here that a team came from the Education Corps to give us psychological tests. They wanted to find the IQ and intelligence standard a field regiment. I managed to speak to one of the team to try and find out the results but with no luck. However he indicated that one gunner, whom everybody thought was very dim, was in fact one of the brightest.
I and two or three others were sent from here on a wireless course to a tiny village called Beer Alston. Two of us were billeted with the Miss鈥檚 Sargent, two very elderly spinsters, who thought we were poor souls miles from home. They had the cocoa ready for us every evening and always wanted us to sit and talk. We stayed six weeks and worked very hard. It was here that we met Gordon Howland, a large person who was top in every subject, his notebooks were perfection. We didn鈥檛 know then that he was to be our Section Sergeant, until he came back to Chudleigh with us. He was very good for our Section; and better than we realised at first. I remember one time in Italy, when handing out the free issue, somebody complained that they were due soap. Gordon said, 鈥淵ou had it last week鈥�. He replied that he hadn鈥檛. Gordon opened his book for a moment then said, 鈥淎h, you nearly had it last week鈥�. That was Gordon, so precise.
While at Chudleigh we still had not received rifles for everybody, so some were issued with pikes. These were a length of gas pipe with a bayonet welded on the end. With the bayonet they were five feet long, and very dangerous, more to us than the enemy. On parade the man behind could get his looks ruined very easily when we turned. Also in the Nissan huts they were liable to fall as the huts had curved sides there was nowhere for them to lean against safely and in falling could at least slit your uniform. Here Jack Vaughan and Dennis Mather joined us. Dennis arrived soaking wet, why I do not know as he came by lorry and was well covered out of the rain. He was carrying enough kit for two, and not very happy. Jack came as our reserve, which was a sign that we would soon be going overseas.
After more weeks of chasing around Dartmoor and Larkhill ranges we were brought up to full overseas complement and I got another stripe which meant I earned three pounds a week, less tax.! We knew we would be going overseas for certain, even though we had not been told officially. I think the Regiment was ready, as we all seemed to know our jobs so well that they became routine and at times boring.
The day came when we were ordered to load our transport, which was done very quickly as we had done it so many times before. Of course we wondered where overseas we would go but nobody could say.
Sgt Jeff Acton, a team of drivers and myself were given the job of taking the section鈥檚 transport to Glasgow. Off we went in convoy together with the rest of the Regimental transport.
On leaving Devon we found the roads full, all moving in the same direction. It was a very interesting journey. Each night we stayed in a different hall of some kind. I thought it a well-organised affair. We were fed and watered so no complaints. Everywhere was packed with troops of all sorts including Americans.
I believe the weather was as ever warm with rain at times, but we were happy, we were on the move at last. The further north we got the more generous the people. At first cups of tea appeared, further on cakes came with the tea and later I remember pies also appeared, very nice home made ones, I spoke to and met some very nice people.

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