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I was 18 when the war broke out and joined the RAF Signals Section. We underwent training in Blackpool. I remember going home on leave to Hadleigh once, when I met my future wife. She had been drafted in as a Landgirl to work on the Prowse Farm. This was the beginning of a long romance by correspondence!

Very early in the war, I and about 7,000 other airmen were sent by boat to South Africa. Here I was to work in a ‘Switching Centre’, operating teleprinters. But I was soon posted to Bombay and thus began what turned out to be a four-year unbroken stint in India and Ceylon. During this time I became fluent in Urdu — and suffer 15 bouts of Malaria!

In many ways though, my experience of the war was a fortunate one. I never experienced fighting or sleeping under canvas. There were beaches and the food was excellent and plenty of it. The RAF organised regular entertainment. We had cinema, bands, cabaret and comedy acts; we saw stars like Gracie Fields.

The only down side was that we were unable to return to the UK throughout the four years’ posting. It was a long separation. I spent my leave exploring the mountains of Tibet, keeping in touch with home through weekly letters and ‘airgraphs’. It was brought home to me one day just how lucky I was, when I went to an Indian station and saw hundreds of jaded soldiers, straight from the desert wars, forced to sleep on the platforms. They were awaiting transport to Burma and the front line.

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