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Soon we were detailed to go overseas to a ‘secret’ destination. We were issued with khaki drill uniform for use in hot climates and most of the town told us we were going to the MiddleEast!

My wife and I were married on 14th November 1940 and spent three days in Cornwall before going abroad; during the ceremony I wore my riding breeches and managed to sit back on my spurs. My unit was not due to leave until early January in the New Year so my wife was able to spend Christmas with me at Hexham.

We were not able to book a Christmas Dinner anywhere so we had Fish and Chips in the NAAFI (Forces Canteen).

We sailed from Gourock, the port near Glasgow, on 3rd January 1941, on the ‘Arundel Castle’ and some of us were given jobs; I worked in the ship’s orderly room. We had a Pay Day after nine days but there was little to buy except sweets and cigarettes and we had fifty cigarettes free anyway.

We eventually sailed on 12th January in company with nineteen other troopships and the naval escort. After four days several of the ships (one contained prisoners-of-war) and some of the naval escort left the convoy to go to Canada.

On Saturday 25th January we entered Freetown in Sierra Leone. An enemy airplane appeared as we anchored but it got a hot reception from the shore batteries and naval guns and promptly disappeared. The natives came round the ship with fruit for sale and dived for coins.

At night the convoy observed strict blackout although there were lights ashore and two ships came alongside, to re-fuel us, us with lights displayed. After four days we left.

On Saturday 8th February the convoy split up. eleven ships went to Durban and the rest of us went to Cape Town. We got leave and, as the troops left the dock gates, local residents were lined up with their cars to offer tours and hospitality. I was collected with two other soldiers and we were well looked after and given a marvellous tour of the city. Later we had supper and when we returned to the ship we had covered 100 miles.

Eventually, we entered the Red Sea and anchored at Port Tewfick, some 3 miles south of Suez, three months after leaving Scotland. On 8th March we eventually disembarked and were taken by train and lorry to the tented camp at El Tahag which was situated, for 8 miles, alongside a tarmac road. Nothing but sand in any direction.

We were about 65 miles from Cairo. The cookhouse and washouse were about half-a-mile away from our tent, and there were open-air cinemas at mile intervals in each direction showing a different film each night for 1/- (10p) so there was plenty of choice. I was given a job in the Company Office.

On March 13th we received orders to move. We were going to Greece. Before we did I received mail from England so say that the house had been bombed.

We had our first experience of a sandstorm, and couldn’t see a thing which made packing up harder but we moved on 25th March. After marching 10 miles in full kit to Port Said, we boarded our transport and left almost immediately. There were almost 4000 troops (most were from Australia and New Zealand) on board but things were not too bad. We passed Crete during the night and arrived at Piraeus, the port for Athens at noon two days later. Lorries took us to our tented camp 12 miles away. Food was supplied by the New Zealanders and we changed our Egyptian money for Greek drachmas.

After we settled in we were able to visit Athens.

More soldiers arrived daily and eventually, we headed north 40 men to each lorry. The journey to Larissa took us eighteen hours and took us through magnificent scenery with 1000 ft drops either side of the road. While we were unloading the train some 200 Italian PoW’s passed on their way to Athens singing.

The town was in a shambles due to a recent earthquake. A lorry took us to our camp at Turnavos which was outside a Greek army barracks. The office and ovens were in a field (set up by Royal Engineers) and our tents under some trees across the road. Later we were ordered to carry rifles everywhere we went as German troops were waiting in Bulgaria to invade Greece. Convoys of troops, mostly Aussies and New Zealanders, were heading north with their guns; one of our bakeries was ordered 70 miles to the north.

From our position you could see snow-covered Mt. Olympus in the distance. I worked on the accounts in the office and a Greek soldier gave me a shave. The Germans were believed to be near Salonika. There was a bit of scare when it was rumoured that there were enemy paratroopers nearby. Some of our lads joined in the search but none were found.

Rumours were rife about the advancing enemy; the Field Bakery that had gone north came back and there were refugees coming down from the border.

On 11th April our first batch of bread was produced. We let the NZ units have some until their own bakery was running. No 15 Field Bakery, having returned from the north did traffic duty in Larissa. After five days we were evacuated and returned by lorry to Larissa. The ovens were destroyed by machine-gun fire and the noise caused the lads to rush from their tents ready for action!

We had air raids, and enemy aircraft heavily damaged Piraeus Harbour. When we left Larissa another raid was in progress and the town was alight and I shared the pavement with a Greek colonel also trying to keep out of the way! The stores at the station were raided to provide us with food for the journey. There was only one railway line and one road which made things slow and difficult especially when troops were going north towards the enemy.

In 24 hours we covered 80 miles and reached Rouf Railway Station in Athens at 0400 on 17th April and moved to another camp.

On 21st April parachutists were reported to be in the hills and a search party went out to look for them without success. In the evening we were ordered to be ready to move at short notice. Next day we burned all papers, put valuables in small valises and wore greatcoats. Everything else was left.

We had a four mile march were warned not to smoke as the lights would give our position away and slept in a ditch for the night. We used to hide under the trees when enemy planes came over. There was a mixture of many units and nationalities.

Eventually we boarded lorries and went south for about 45 miles over the Corinth Canal starting early as we were warned the Jerries regularly machine-gunned the road we were on.

Early on 24th April we joined the main group, a corporal commandeered an empty lorry, and we moved on. We were bombed and machine-gunned all day and several Aussies were killed. Late a night we were marched to the docks at Port Argos and boarded HMS Glenearn having to climb up scrambling nets, rifles over shoulders, to get on board. Without the incentive of leaving I doubt if some of us would have made it! We sailed almost immediately and I slept on deck.

There were two troopships with an eight-vessel escort; three enemy planes came over ( two were shot down) and we reached Suda Bay, in Crete, at 1700. After we disembarked the Navy went back for more.
We marched two miles to a camp where we had supper. There was a very long queue to the serving table where two huge fires sent flames roaring into the sky. Each time a plane was heard the line scattered and later reformed.

The next morning we rejoined our unit. Five days later we were told to had our rifles and ammunition in to be used by the rearguard troops who had lost theirs in the evacuation. We boarded HMS Carlisle and were told to expect a voyage of four days. In fact, we reached Alexandria in two
We were taken back to El Tahag.

I was offered a transfer to the HQ Mobilisation Centre, as a corporal, which I took; my unit went into the Western Desert. The base was composed of several camps each about a quarter of a mile wide on each side of an asphalt road. The boundary was marked at the side of each but not at the rear where the desert stretched as far as the eye could see. 12 hour guards were mounted each night at 6pm (a Corporal and six men) with the men on guard for two hours followed by four hours rest.

There was also a mobile patrol which kept an eye on the lines of vehicles which were parked when not in use.

There was also a Fire Picket consisting of a Sergeant and six men mounted at the Stores daily at noon. They were on duty for 24 hours at a time because of fire danger in a tented camp. Normal duties were carried out but if the alarm went — which wasn’t often — the picket attended to put in out. One day, about ten minutes before my squad (I was now a Sergeant) was due to mount, the alarm went. We could see the blaze and went to assist the duty picket who were dealing with a blazing tent. The tent was pulled down and the fire extinguished with ammunition exploding all around us.

I later got leave and went to Cairo. One of the things we did was handle £100 gold and silver bars at a business in what looked a slum area of the city. We also visited the Pyramids and the Nile Delta Barrage. I also continued to visit the camp cinemas regularly.

In November we were granted leave and went to Palestine. The countryside there was very green and different from the sands of Egypt. We visited Jerusalem, Bethlehem and other places of Biblical interest. We had difficulty getting back to base as, due to a British ‘push’, all leave had been cancelled.

Eventually we managed to get a train that was going in the direction of our camp. We finished up dropping off it and hiking across the sand to the camp.
Early in 1944 I was promoted Staff Sergeant and went to new unit being formed as the senior ‘other rank’ in charge of 30 Singalese and British troops (all very young).

We served in Palestine and Transjordan. In September 1944 I was ‘Mentioned in Despatches’. I don’t know what for. On 4th March 1945 I was granted 2 days leave and went to Damascus in Syria. I saw carpenters making chairs and using a primitive loom with string attached to a stick causing the wood to revolve. In the Street Called Straight -one and a half miles long — we saw toffee being made in a tin which was cleaned after each batch with a dirty rag. We didn’t have any!

My unit left for Jerusalem on May 7th 1945 the day the war in Europe ceased. On 22nd May I took three trucks to relieve an outpost at Aquaba. The first night we slept on the sand and when driving we had to keep an eye on each other in case anyone got stuck in the soft sand. We reached the Depot the next day. The next day a sudden storm blew the roof off the Depot buildings. We left again on 27th May and for the first 10 miles there was a tarmac road. Then onto the sand again until we stopped for the night at the Arab Legion Post at Wadi Musa. Here we slept under the stars again.

After an early morning start we reached Petra and had to ride on horseback down into the ancient city. Never having ridden a horse before I let it find its own way which proved the best idea. We stopped at a couple of other Arab Legion outposts and eventually arrived back at Jerusalem where I slept in the office.

I left the Middle East on 9th June 1945 and sailed for Southampton. After four years away it was good to be home. I was posted to a depot in Norwich for the rest of my service and ‘demobbed’ at Peterborough where I received my ‘civvy suit’ including a trilby hat. My wife never like the hat and she was pleased when it blew off my head as we were crossing Westminster Bridge and fell into the River Thames!

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