大象传媒

When the soldiers were not on duty or drilling on the barrack square they had to do a lot of cleaning of their kit The boots were very rough leather, even the tops of them. You may have heard Grandad talk about spit and polish. Well this does work to make the toe cap on the boots really shine like a patent leather. Grandad would spend a lot of his spare time putting on the boot polish then a bit of spit and rubbing a piece of cloth round and round until the shine came on to the toe caps. Another thing they had to clean were the canvas belts and canvas putties. Putties were a shaped piece of very strong canvas about six inches deep which the soldiers wore around the bottom of the trousers of their . It stoped the trousers flapping around and getting caught in things. The belt they wore around the waist was again very strong canvas about four inches deep I think, this was used to attach items to. These canvas things were cleaned with a product called Blanco, which is something like the blocks we use today for cleaning white canvas shoes. The men also used to make sure their kit bag was clean and waxed.
There was no radio or television in the rooms. All the entertainment available was maybe a cinema providing tue officer in charge let them have a pass to go to the neareby town. In one of Grandad鈥檚 letters he says 鈥淚've spent more time on these boots up to now than I鈥檝e done on all the boots I've had since I born'. They also had to have inoculations against various diseases. On the 30th April Grandad writes 鈥淭his afternoon we had a visit to the dentist. It was not very pleasant believe me. We marched up at 1.30 and came back again at 5.0. There were five dentists and the 34 of us went in as our names were called. I had 2 out and 5 drilled and filled鈥�. In another letter the same week he writes 鈥渓f you know anybody who is thinking of volunteering for the army, tell them not to, it's a dogs life. The only good meal we have is when there's a cookhouse inspection.鈥�
It was a bit of a shock for Grandad to do the cross country running but he came 5th out of 55 on a three mile run when he had been in the army for about three weeks. Those innoculations were not too pleasant. Grandad writes in a letter the next day 鈥淢y arm is hurting a bit now, but the others are pegging out, one chap has gone off eatingand is still in bed, 2 had to fall out of parade this morning and the rest are nearly all asleep鈥�. Parade was when the soldiers all went on to the barrack square to do drill and be inspected, to make sure they all were dressed properly, that their hair was cut short and dressed tidy, that their boots were shining, and that they could march up and down the square smartly fast or slow as the officers directed. Although Grandad was not very fond of this he liked the music that the band played while the parade was going on. His favourite was a piece called Waltz de Corsair by Glazunov. He played it often on a tape recorder many years after his army days.
They had a Greek man in Grandad鈥檚 squadron. Grandad says in one letter that this Greek had a very rough time, he could not understand the English language very well. but he was good at cutting hair so some of the lads including Grandad gave him a coprer or two for a hair-cut. In the same letter Grandad writes "We've only been here about ten days and we know all about a rifle, how to clean it, dismantle it, aim, load et, the same with a. revolver (that鈥檚 what we use). We know how to drill, goose step, ceremonial march etc, have all passed on gas drill, map reading, physical training and endless other things." The reason that a revolver was used in the Tank regiment was that if the soldiers were trapped in a tank which was on fire or so damaged that the men could not get out, they would shoot themselves with the revolver if no help came. The soldiers in a Tank regiment are called Troopers, not privates as in other regiments. The Tank regiments were formed from the Great War when the first Tank was invented and used at a place in north-east France called Flers.(not to be confused with another place called Flers in Normandy.) Before that the troopers were composed of a cavalry regiment that means that all the men were fighting on horse back.
Here is a bit of a moany letter Grandad wrote, 'There鈥檚 so many things in the twenty weeks training that we are changing clothes about twelve times a day. We get up and put a canvas suit on, clean the room, change for breakfast, change again after breakfast for gym, change for gas drill, change again for rifle drill, change again for a lecture, change for dinner and so on. I don't know whether the Corporal鈥檚 got it in for us, but none of us went out on Sunday. We had to blanco and clean the brass of an infantry man鈥檚 complete kit, valise, haversack, billy cans, pouches and what not, it took us until 8 o鈥檆lock to get it done.( Each man would have to clean one each) Then on Monday night we were spud peeling for two and a half hours. Tonight apart from haircuts there鈥檚 the room to be scrubbed, windows to clean and a general good clean up. Wednesday we each have to have the kit we cleaned fitted to us and an officer is coming to inspect it at seven o鈥檆lock at night, so we will have to stop in again. I have only been out of barracks for two and a half hours up to now, that was to a rag time football match on Saturday afternoon. I hardly have time to write, there鈥檚 hardly time to spit. It seems a bit far fetched but its quite true and all of us are fed up to.the eyes. As for Menu, that鈥� pretty bad, for breakfast.we get a small quantity of bacon (99% fat) and no dip because the bacon is boiled, one round of bread and an egg or onions or beans. For dinner, dirty rotten potatoes, peas and fatty meat. For tea two rounds of bread, margerine (a half pound between twelve men) and syrup or runny jam, No supper. There are twelve at a table so whoever gets near the end is lucky if he gets any at all. There鈥檚 always margerine fo Sunday tea, we had two rounds of bread and margerine and a small piece of slab cake, nothing else. Monday morning we had fat bacon and haricot beans, 99% of which went back to the cookhouse. The plates are never dried, they're just dipped and brought out again all sticky and wet. The boots are pretty heavy and stiff but you've got to get used to them, mine are all right now. I have had more trouble with my teeth since I went to the dentist than I've ever had. He's left a hole in my gums, it almost gone up to my eye and I can feel what I think is my jaw bone because that鈥檚 where he fetched two bits out, and I'm awaiting my name to be put up for another visit, scraping I think. There鈥檚 a NAAFI up here but I've only been up once, it鈥檚 too dear. Chips about half a dozen, one egg, cup of tea and a mouthful of bread and butter, I think, all for nine pence( 3p) you need two lots for a decent meal so I don鈥檛 patronize it. Anyway don't think I'm having a hard time because I can put up with a lot and I'm getting along quite well considering. Please don't send anything at all because I can manage. We have wages on Thursday dinnertime, a paltry.five shillings (25np) and you can spend it where and when you like. But with a bit of scheming it's enough.鈥�
NAAFI is a Navy, Army, and Air Force Institute, a sort of cafe used by the troops.
Next letter Grandad tells that he is going on a wireless (radio) course for a week, then so many of the men will be used for transmitting messages during their forthcoming battles.They had a good time one afternoon, there were two officers in a car and the squad of soldiers in three lorries, the officers took them to a certain place and gave them all a map, and certain numbers to go by and they were sent off. The officers went a few miles away, and the object was for the men was to get back to the officers. This was on a large Ipain, Grandad says 'Well we travelled miles over the Plain and had a really good shaking up, because we travelled over rough tracks and grass land, anyway we did find our way and after about two and a half hours came across the officers. We were going down a valley with a wood on either side and an aeroplane gave us a thrill. It came up this valley just like a bullet and only about twenty feet high, we all thought it was going to ram us but a split second before it reached us it rose and passed clear of us. We looked behind and the pilot waved to us, you should have seen us, we all ducked and the driver stopped the lorrry just as though he had 50 brakes.鈥� Then Grandad says 'We have a spy right here in our midst in soldier鈥檚 uniform. We have been given a description of him and told to arrest him if we think he is the chap, these spies are clever and no one would suspect him in a soldier鈥檚 uniform but he's in for a rude shock very soon.On parade this morning Eddie Sambrook fainted and had to be carried off, he's the 4th or 5th to pass out with inoculations and vaccinations. One squad has six in hospital and two with arms in slings, but our squad has taken it all right, as for me, I can say that they haven't given me any trouble, if anything I feel better for it. Of course we get a lot of fresh air and excercise, in ideal weather, so that may have something to do with it.

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