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This story appears courtesy of and with thanks to The Liverpool Diocesan Care and Repair Association and James Taylor.

Which force did you go into?

Into the Army. It was the Seventh King’s Liverpool. I was with the Seventh King’s for two years. Then I was transferred into the Royal Corps of Signals. That was quite interesting, doing communications, line work also wireless operating with the Morse code.

Did you go abroad?

At first, two years in England stationed in the south, Sussex, and then went up to Yorkshire. Then we were sent overseas to India.

Where did you stay in India?

Mostly in Bengal, Calcutta is the main town in Bengal. Outside of Calcutta it’s all jungle. I was there for four years and the temperature was never below ninety, and most times it was a hundred and fifteen.

Did you get used to it, or did you dislike it?

Some people liked it. I could never get used to it, it was too hot.

Did you sleep in the afternoon?

As soon as we went out there, that was the programme. When we were not actually in the fighting zone, that was the procedure. The reveille was four thirty a.m. It was down to about sixty degrees. We did PT in the morning; lunch was at eleven thirty a.m. in the morning. You had free time in the afternoon, you could have a siesta. That was only in the training barracks.

What was the food like?

The food took a lot to get used to, but strange as it might seem I like Indian food now. We were always grumbling about the curry being too hot. We were too hot already. They reckon that helped you to cool down, the hot spices. That was the general medical opinion that it was good to eat hot curries.

Were you actually in the battlefront fighting the Japanese?

Well the communications corps was stationed just on the outskirts of the battlefront. I was lucky, I was never in any combat or taken prisoner of war. I knew friends of mine that were taken by the Japanese and they had a rough time. I was only in India for four years. Over the four years, we never got leave to go home. We got leave to go to the mountain stations, they say hills but actually they were mountains. The Civil Service used to be stationed there and the English people used to be there.

It was cooler there wasn’t it?

Yes it was quite cool.

Can you remember the name of the hill station?

Yes, one place sticks in my mind in State of Uttar Pradesh Nainital; it was a lovely place and still is.

Where exactly is that in India?

Let’s see, it would be Northern India, it would be near the North West Frontier. I should imagine right up in the hills. It was what you would call a holiday hill station. It had horse riding, polo for the officers, but not for the ordinary ranks. I was never higher that a Signalman.

What was your impression of the Army, did you like it or hate it?

It wasn’t bad; I liked it in a way.

New outlook in life was it?

It was, but most people in the Army thought about getting back home.

Were you demobed?

Yes, after being called up I was demobed in 1946. I was called up in January 1940 and demobed in November 1946, which makes 6 years service. We got a gratuity of one hundred and twenty pounds, which seemed an awful lot of money in 1946. When the war just ended everything fluctuated and there were no proper jobs.

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