´óÏó´«Ã½

This story is taken from an interview with Robert Blair at the Ballymena Servicemen’s Association, and has been added to the site with his / her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions. The interviewer was Matt Morrow, and the transcription was by Bruce Logan.
====

I would just say, it’s a nice clean life, but kind of a rough life too. You were just here. When we went ashore you had a few drinks. You always said, it’s their turn today but your turn tomorrow. But I really enjoyed it, you know?

[leave]
You might have leave for maybe a week, but that was it.
Everything was rationed, one thing and another. It’s not every a public house. They kind of rationed the drink. But if you’re in uniform, you’re all right. When you’re in uniform they’ll let you in, but you have to buy your own drink, of course. But I don’t think ... I think if I was young again, if I had my life to live over again, I would join the Navy.

We were escorting from Singapore to Batavia, that’s the Dutch East Indies then. Escorting 3 ships, we got a bit of … Japanese aircraft and we got badly damaged. We went to Brooklyn, New York for about a fortnight, 3 weeks.

The only thing was, we were shown America, to Brooklyn ... There was a kind of a buffet, you just go in and help yourself. Even ashore there, you could have got ice cream there for a backwards. And in Plymouth, Devonport, that was my station. They give everyone a slice of bacon, maybe 1 sausage, maybe 1 slice of bread. That was yours, that was all you got. And when you went out to America there, all each their own, you got as much food as you want. A different way of life. And then we went to India, and were only allowed 2 tins of beer. You got 2 tickets. And then, you maybe hear about poteen here. But out there we called it Hooch. You drunk one or 2 of them, you’d have gone blind for maybe 24 hours. And if people was drinking it … I drunk it myself. Hooch, that’s what ye called it. It was clear, just like water. And once ye drunk that … you find it going down ye.

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