大象传媒

My Late Father鈥檚 Experiences of World War 2

Background
We are a Turkish Cypriot Family. My Father came to the UK from Cyprus in 1936 at the age of 21. His main skills were as a barber and the ability to speak two languages. I suspect his literacy in Turkish and Greek was not very good. After arriving in England, he learned to speak English and achieved adequate literacy to read the paper.

Leaving the UK
By about 1939-1940, he had acquired a barber鈥檚 shop in South London. On being called up, he obtained a six month deferment in order to wind up his business before joining the army. After the six months were up, he tried for another deferment on the grounds not having completed the wind-up of his business. On this occasion, he was persuaded that his country was more important than his business, so he locked up the shop and answered the call-up. When he returned after the war, the shop no longer existed due to the efforts of the Luftwaffe.
After his basic training, he was put on the convoy for Singapore. Although it did not seems so at the time, he had a stroke of luck on the way to Singapore. His troop ship was torpedoed and damaged but not sunk in the Atlantic. My father survived because he could not stand the atmosphere below deck at meal times and decided to have his meals on deck. This was suggested to him by one of the sailors on the ship.
The authorities decided that his troop ship should leave the convoy, probably in order not to delay the rest of the convoy. On leaving the convoy, the crippled troop ship sailed for the Azores in order to obtain repairs. However, although the civilian authorities had given them permission to land, the military authorities on the Azores prevented them from landing.

Sierra Leone
They next sailed to Sierra Leone. They were allowed to go ashore in Sierra Leone, where my father managed to meet some members, of his own age, of the local Syrian community. They were delighted to meet him and took him home to meet their parents. On arriving at the family home, his new friends excitedly told their one eyed father that they had made friends with a British soldier, who like themselves was a Moslem. When their father learned that my father was Turkish, he spat and pointed to his blind eye and shouted out that the Turks had blinded him in one eye and that he did not want Turks in his home.

South Africa
They next sailed to South Africa. In Cape Town, he visited a shop run by a Greek and noticed a black man polishing silver. He asked the Greek proprietor if my father were employed by the Greek if he would give him the same work. The Greek proprietor replied that he was obliged by the government to employ a number of black people and had to give them something to do.

Egypt
After South Africa, my father ended up in Egypt, where he spent most of the rest of the war as a store-man in a weapons and ammunition store. However on the way to Egypt, he said he came into contact with some Scots, who considered drinking more important than personal hygiene. During his time as a store-man, Italian prisoners of war worked for him in the store. They established a comfortable working arrangement, where they would rapidly complete the day鈥檚 work early in the working day and spend the rest of the time on the serious business of playing cards. On one occasion, he was caught by a colour sergeant, whose comment was, 鈥渄on鈥檛 let me catch you again鈥�. After the Italians had departed, he tried the same arrangement with some Egyptians, but their attitude was as good Moslems, they could not be expected to work.
Whilst in Egypt, there were a couple of excursions.

Aegean Islands
I suppose since he was fluent in Greek and Turkish, he was sent with an expedition to the Island of Samos. The expedition was not a success. However he said the expedition was accompanied by Greek and Italian soldiers. When it became apparent that the expedition was not going to be a success, a Greek officer suggested to an Italian General that they should make a last stand and die a glorious death. The Italian General replied that he was more interested in life than a gesture of a glorious death. They eventually made their escape by crossing over to neutral Turkey. As a result of this journey my father emulated more senior British soldiers and acquired an Italian small arm as a souvenir. He said it was quite common for British officers to collect firearms as souvenirs. This would lead to problems later.

Court Marshall
Since he was in Egypt and came originally from Cyprus, he was able to take leave in Cyprus. In order to visit Cyprus, he travelled by train through Palestine. Whilst travelling through Palestine, there was an inspection by the British military authorities, where the Italian small arm souvenir was found. He was immediately arrested on suspicion of smuggling arms to Jewish freedom fighters. He was eventually found not guilty after being defended by his commanding officer in Egypt.

Experience at a British Military camp in Cyprus
At some point in the war, my father was based at a British military camp in Cyprus. At this camp, the Sergeant Major objected to a Turkish Cypriot eating in the mess. The commanding officer resolved the issue by giving my father an allowance to buy his meals at local Cypriot cafes.

Marriage to my mother
My father was not demobilised until returning to the UK in 1946. In 1946, he married my mother, who was the third daughter of a former Account General for Cyprus. When my father went to ask my grandfather if he could marry my mother, my grandfather, as is common, asked my father how he proposed to support his daughter. My father replied that he did not have anything and that he had to borrow the suit that he was wearing from his Uncle. My grandfather was totally unimpressed and tried to dissuade my mother from the marriage. However, my grandfather changed his opinion, when he saw that English soldiers in his group had volunteered act as waiters at the wedding. After 1955, my father became one of my grandfather鈥檚 favourite son鈥檚 in law, when they spent a month with us in the UK, whilst my grandfather came to the UK for medical reasons.
During their journey to UK in 1946, my mother unknowingly ate pork for the only time in her life. This happened on the ship on the way to the UK. She saw that white meat was being served and for short time it became one of her favourite foods. Eventually a couple of Armenian women from Beirut asked her if she was happy about eating pork.

How do I know these anecdotes?
The reason that I know these anecdotes is that my father either:
1. Simply told the stories.
2. If he saw a news item or travel programme on television, he would be reminded that he had visited either Sierra Leone or the island of Samos during his military service. I learned that he had visited Sierra Leone, when the imminent independence of Sierra Leone was broadcast on television. His immediate comment was that it was beautiful place. With regard to the Island of Samos, there was some travel programme or something about archaeology on the island.
3. When I was a child, we used to have a photograph of the damaged troop ship. My father would show the photograph and explain how he survived the attack on the ship. I don鈥檛 know what happened to the photograph. I have been searching in vain for it, since my mother died.

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