大象传媒

My first posting after joining up in 1940 was as part of a driving pool based at Horseferry Road, London. From here I chauffeured many high ranking government and military officials in and around London using commandiered luxury cars, including a few Rolls Royces!

There were other duties as well, of course. How well I remember one such when I had to ferry some of the first experimental 20mm cannon shells from the Woolwich Arsenal to have them filled with incediary charges at Redway Green and then on to the testing range at Pendine Sands in Wales. I almost didn't complete that journey as I was initially prevented from crossing a toll bridge at Hay Bridge because I had no money on me to pay the toll! Luckily, a local bobby intervened and persuaded the toll keeper to let me across!

The officer in charge at the range let me watch some of the testing, firing from a truck mounted gun at some captured enemy planes down on the beach. The effects of the new shells were quite spectacular.

It was also during the time that I was part of the driving pool that I was sent on detachment to Heston Aerodrome, just west of London. Here I became driver to Group Captain Helmore who at that time was overseeing the fitting of GEC Turbinlite searchlights into the noses of Boston bombers. The idea was for the bomber to locate and illuminate enemy planes and then for an escorting fighter to shoot them down.

It wasn't long, however, before I became one of the first from the pool to be posted overseas.

Boarding the SS Scythia at Liverpool for parts unknown, I had no idea then that we'd be left sitting in the middle of the ocean for 4 days as the rest of the convoy sailed on when the ship developed engine trouble. It actually never occurred to me at the time what a lovely target we presented to any patrolling U-boats!

When we eventually did arrive safely at our destination, it turned out to be Egypt. I was initially posted to an airfield at Khartoum, then on to Carthago as part of 72 OTU. From there, it was on to Ismalaya. My job involved driving every size and type of vehicle around the treacherous desert roads salvaging downed aircraft, both allied and enemy. Not a pleasant job by any means.

I vividly remember on occassion when I was sitting in the cab of a 5-tonne truck out on the airstrip. I can even still remember the truck's serial number - RAF 595. It was nearly MY number that day! A violent sandstorm had blown up unexpectedly and, as the dust blew over the field, it caught one poor pilot completely unawares. He had already committed to his take-off run, so was doing quite a lick when the dust completely blotted out his vision. Had it not have been for a timely warning yell from a comrade, I'd have still been in the cab of that truck when the plane clipped it and cartwheeled to its doom! As it was, I witnessed the terrible tradedy from behind the safety of a Coles crane.

Even during the midst of war though, there was time for some respite and it was from this posting that I had the privelidge of visiting the Holy Land. I still cherish the photos I took of Christ's tomb, the Wailing wall, swimming in the Dead Sea... It was here too that I met a really good mate, Bill Rumble. I often wonder what became of him.

As the war came to an end, I was returned to Hinton-in-the-Hedges to await demob. It was wonderful to see my wife, May again after all this time. We'd married in 1939 and I hadn't seen her for most of those years. She had thankfully survived unscathed through all the bombing on London.

Finally, on 3 May 1946, I was demobbed and I returned to my trade as a master butcher (in Hounslow and then Sunningdale) which I kept at until my retirement.Though I'm nearly 92 now, my most vivid memories are of the irreplaceable young years of my life that I gave in service to my country.

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