大象传媒

I joined up in 1943 just before my twentieth birthday. I was put into the REME, and sent to Kent to the 13th Ack Ack Workshop. I didn鈥檛 like it much, having to walk as I did from Petts Wood to the depot in full kit. My job was to anti freeze grease the searchlights. I went back to the depot one day for new supplies to be told I was being posted up north.

I was actually detailed as batman to an old Captain, and we went up to Scotland near Gretna Green. I remember just before D-Day we went on a march through the town. I think it was for 鈥淪alute the Soldier鈥� week. Then it was down to Bognor, where I went to a dance and was persuaded by my friends to approach a young lady. We married after the war.

From Bognor it was over to Gosport where we were stuck up a hill. There was no contact allowed with anyone. We then went down to the port to board our LCT. I can remember that as we went through the town we had to queue to get on. People came out of the houses to give us tea and cakes.

Then it was over to France. We got to Caen just after the Germans left. I can remember the smell of cordite. There were large holes in the road for the lorry to negotiate. Our job was to recover vehicles, and particularly to keep open what were known as Red Board Routes. These were the roads used by the ammunition trucks to get supplies to the front line.

We used to take over large houses as accommodation. I can remember one occasion we were in a Chateaux when someone from the Free French or the Resistance came in with a German. Poor fellow, his eyes were right back into his head. I was given a rifle to guard him. When the MPs came to take him away I gestured to him with the rifle to move outside. He screamed in terror as he thought he was about to be shot. I had to try and calm him down.

Anyway, we followed the allied advance through places like Amiens and Arras and arrived in Paris. Here we were sent off to Marseille in the South of France. The Canadian 2nd Army was coming out through Italy at the time, and we continued our duties of keeping things open. I remember I was doing driving duties at the time, and was out on a motorbike. A fleet of lorries came past. One of their outriders bikes had broken down, and the officer spotted that I was REME and demand that I sort it out. I tried to explain that I wasn鈥檛 a mechanic, but my regiment was all he seemed interested in. I had a look at the bike, and managed to sort it; the fuel outlet had got blocked.

I later got back to driving trucks, and remember going on a job to Bremen with a load of engines. The bridges were down, so we had to use a ferry. A German truck was sitting there stuck in the mud, and I offered to help pull it free. The Americans in charge turned me down, saying I could never do it, but I decided to have a go anyway. I hitched it up, stuck my truck in booster gear, and pulled it out. I never felt a thing!

There was another time the Americans had told me I couldn鈥檛 do something. We had been at a caf茅 in the hills near Marseille. An American had got stuck at the bottom of a dead end. I came out of the Caf茅 having enjoyed a little Champagne, and offered to help turn it round for him. I was told it couldn鈥檛 be done, but got in and had a go. It took about twenty small turns back and forwards, but I did it. I must admit I enjoyed that!

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