´óÏó´«Ã½

Along with everybody else I was called up for military duties in 1944. I was sent to training camp in Squire’s gate just outside Blackpool for 8 weeks, and after we’d arrived and we’d been set up into platoons we were allocated huts with four in a hut, with bunk beds. We were then taken to a large building at one end of which was a pile of straw and at the other end canvas bags. We were instructed to take one of these bags and fill them with the straw. And then take it back to t he hut and this was to form our mattress. On the first night we all soon discovered that pieces of straw were coming through the canvas and these pieces were so sharp that we couldn’t use the mattress. We eventually discovered that one of the ways of making these straw mattresses more comfortable was to wear our army boots, put the mattress on the floor and by continually jumping up and down on the mattress we managed to break down the sharp pieces of straw. You must remember that the army boot, which was heavy in its own right, had a horse shoe of steel on the heel, which made it very effective for this job!
We were there october/november time, and they get the equinoctial gales and being up that part of the country the main air flow is westerly. As the training camp was on the coastline, and the wind used to come straight in off the Irish sea. The coastline was made of sand dunes and all the roads used to get covered in sand. The training camp was a pre war holiday camp, and the huts were concrete blocks, not meant for winter use. The sand was whipped up in huge clouds, filling everything — huts, mess tables, you were sleeping sand and eating sand more or less. In order to try and keep the camp clear, part of the army equipment issued to you was a gas cape and gas goggles. They got us to wear these over our normal uniform. They gave us shovels and the idea was as the sand was building up in the entrance to the camp, to shovel it away and keep the entrance clear. But of course in practice what happened was that when you put the shovel into the sand and lifted it away, the wind would immediately lift the sand off your shovel and whip it away again!!

And after the initial eight weeks training I was posted to Nottingham and found myself billeted in an old church called St Nicholas. Our sleeping accommodation was on the upper floor with a very high arched ceiling, typical of a church. There were over a hundred men billeted with rows of bunk beds and when our contingent arrived we found that all the lower bunks were already taken by men who had been wounded and returned to the UK for light duties. So we much to the amusement of these old soldiers, cheerfully accepted the upper bunks, and it was not until it was time for lights out and we were lying in the bunks looking up to the rafters above us. We then suddenly realized that there were long tails (rats) running along the rafters. When the duty sergeant came in to put the lights out we complained about the long tails, his reply was that ‘rats were one of the most sure footed creatures that god had made’! Luckily enough I never had a rat fall on me, but every now and again you would hear a scream and a thump as one of the lads rolled out bed having found a rat on his army blanket.

As long as we were not on duty we were allowed to apply for forty-eight hour weekend passes which for those men living in the UK enabled them to visit their homes. Unfortunately being a Manx man all our steamers (except for two) were taken for war duties, this meant that there were no sailings from Fleetwood to the Isle of Man at the weekend. This meant that I found myself in this large barracks on my own for two days. One of the soldiers stationed with me was a lad called Les Frary(?). His mother was very friendly with a Nottingham lady and before the war they used to meet each weekend. Les’s mother had told him to go and visit this lady who’s name was Amy. On one of his visits Les mentioned there was one of the soldiers who could not get home on a weekend pass, and found himself alone for each weekend. This lady’s full name was Amy Shipley. When she heard the situation she asked Les to bring this young man to meet her. Ever after that each weekend I found myself living with this family, sharing all their meals and a very warm welcome. When you realize that food rationing was the order of the day, it really brings home the sacrifice that this family was making in order to accommodate this lonely young man. One of the family was young lady called Beryl and eventually this young man plucked up courage to ask this young lady for a date. And arrangements were made for them to meet under Queen Victoria’s statue in the market square in Nottingham city. Beryl’s mother used to make the joke that Queen Victoria was keeping a close watch on us!

Beryl and I have been married now for 56 years.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.