大象传媒

I sat down with my grandad, Reg Williams,(aged 91) and a tape recorder to get a few reminiscences.

At the age of 25 grandad was called up into the 184 Field Company of the Royal Engineers. He was living in Aldershot already at this time, but the army insisted he march down the road from the station as if he'd just arrived by train. He recalls passing my grandmother's work place and the surprised look on her face as he marched past with his 'batch'.

The first thing that he remembers when he arrived at the barracks was being given instructions, being inspected and being given hard beds to sleep on. The regular army man who was in charge of him, he said, couldn`t even spell his own name, but when he found out grandad came from Aldershot he asked him which pub he used and he said he would look after grandad.

Grandad was given a driving test, went on a course and became a driving instructor. He was then picked out to become a classroom instructor and taught men not only how to drive, but also a more intimate knowledge of what they were driving so they could cure minor faults and not hold up regiments or army duties.

Later grandad was stationed at Ashton-in-Makerfield in Lancashire where the army had barracks at Haydock Park race course. He then went to Preston and at both places grandad did a similiar driving instructor job.

From Preston grandad went to London and then Tilbury Docks for his journey to France. He landed on the beach and then went through France to join forces with the Canadian army. Grandad was to spend a couple of years with the Canadians (the 3rd Canadian Division, he thinks)and noted the efficiency and competency of the canadians in getting parts for vehicles; "the only thing the british army could ever get without difficulty was tyres!"

He went with this canadian regiment through France, Germany and Holland - just after the Germans had left them. From there he went to Denmark, always on the move, taking the `sappers' to repair damage which the Germans had done deliberatly to roads and bridges to slow up the allied Forces. He helped with these repairs and with repairing some houses, connecting electricity etc and clearing mines. He was involved with clearing up places for troops to live in, like halls and on one occasion a monastry. Sometimes there were Germans waiting "who didn't make us very welcome!" Sometimes the French didn't want them either, and he recalls being shot at by both Germans and French on separate occasions.

He never knew how long he would be at any one place and often they had to move on in the middle of the night. He remembers going to Nijmegen in Holland shortly after the British had had a terrible time securing their position ('A bridge too far'), and also seeing the Jewish prisoners in the Bergen-Belsen concerntration camp, whilst clearing some of the damage caused in the taking of the nearby town of Celle, Germany. He was staggered by the state of the people, "all flesh and bone wandering aimlessly, mentally scarred". The soldiers were warned not to give them food (as they had been so starved that introduction of food at that point would give them diarrhoea and stomach trouble,) which he said was harrowing. However they were able to feed German civilians left behind by the German army. Grandad also remembers the kind reception they received from the people of Eindhoven, Holland and the last place he worked at, Braunschweig in Germany.

Grandad particularly remembers getting to the Rhine where the army asked for volunteers to build a bridge across it. Grandad volunteered and after a chaplain had taken a short service the brave men started work. This task was particularly dangerous as the Germans were on one side of the river firing at the british who were firing back whilst the building work progressed. This was one of the most frightening times for him. However when they had finished they discovered a German speed boat with a very fast V8 engine. Grandad and a few of his pals couldn't resist trying it out and he remembers well the exhilerating feeling speeding along the river and then nudging the sparkplug on the engine and receiving an electric shock in his bottom which made him yelp loudly!!

When it came to leaving, the army put the soldiers into groups according to their age and when they joined the army. He was in number 25 group, and "couldn't get out quick enough". He was in charge of "some smashing blokes", and "would never have taken promotion because he didn't want to leave them". He specifically remembers a Jack Arrowsmith who had film star good looks and was grandad's second in command, a lance corporal, and "was a good lad, very reliable". Also a Jack Arrows who was very concerned about his young family back at home, as indeed many were, especially when news filtered through of bombings in Britain.

Grandad was demobbed at Guildford and issued with his demob suit which, much to his dismay, didn't fit him as the army had asked for sizes but then got them all mixed up. He wished he'd sold it like some others had done and got, he recalls, 拢30 or 拢40 for it, but he had little else to wear.
He was entitled to three medals but was so eager to get away from the demob station having had such an awful journey across the channel, and then the fiasco with the suits that he didn't bother to sign up for them.

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