大象传媒

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When war was declared in September 1939 I was 23 years old and one of the first things that I did was to build an Anderson shelter in the garden of my home. This was to protect my mother and four sisters from possible air raids. I volunteered for the Army in January 1940 and was posted to the Royal Army Ordnance Corps in Portsmouth, Hampshire. From there I was sent on a short course to study the army system and organisation. I was then posted to Selby in Yorkshire.

In December 1940, whilst I was in Selby, my home was devastated by a bomb that landed 50 yards from the house. Although the roof was destroyed and the doors were blown off, my sisters and mother were safe in the Anderson shelter, although badly shaken they were not hurt. I was given 10 days compassionate leave from Selby to enable me to resettle my family.

Because of the knowledge I had acquired from the short course, I was posted to Army Headquarters in Whitehall in 1941 when I was promoted to Corporal and then to Sergeant. I remained in Whitehall working on Army documents and paperwork until 1943.

In June 1943 I was posted to Sierra Leone, West Africa. Because of the climatic conditions in that country, we were only allowed to serve there for 18 months. During that time I developed a duodenal ulcer, which I suffered from until a cure was found in the middle of the 1990s.

During my service in Sierra Leone I was promoted to Company Sergeant Major and then to Sergeant Major Warrant Officer Class I. On my return from West Africa in 1945 I was posted to Donnington and later to various places in the London area.

I was demobbed from the Army in June 1945.

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