大象传媒

From the end of the London Blitz until mid-1942 I continued to work as a Counter Clerk and Telegraphist 鈥� which was a鈥� reserved occupation鈥� 鈥� in the Post Office in Kilburn High Road , N.W.London . All of my friends had by then been called-up or had volunteered for the armed services . As a result my social life had changed considerably and I was beginning to feel that as a young healthy civilian it was noticeable , especially on those occasions when I was out with friends , home on leave and in uniform .
In June 1942 the Post Office decided that they could manage without me and I promptly received my call-up papers to join the Army . I reported to a Primary Training Corps in Ossett, Yorkshire where for 6 weeks I was in No.7 Platoon and taught to be a soldier 鈥� how to get fit , to obey orders and to drill and march , salute, right left and about turns, etc. plus rifle drill . Although there were about 40 of us in the platoon we only had 6 rifles between us 鈥� occasionally some of us were able to use pieces of wood but most times you went through the motions without rifle or wood . In the 6 weeks we only practiced rifle firing on the rifle range once , and then only 6 bullets per man . With all that knowledge I was supposed to be a fighting soldier !!
I was then transferred to the Royal Corps of Signals , presumably because my Post Office training as a Telegraphist was eminently suitable . I reported for 12 weeks signals training to Whetstone in North London 鈥� a posting that was very welcome because it was only half a dozen miles away from my home in Kilburn . The visions of home comforts for the next 3 months were shattered when I discovered that this concentrated course did not cater for private pleasure .Our hours were 8.0 a.m. to 8.0 p.m. for 6 days of the week and Sunday morning was given over to church parade and billet cleaning . If billet cleaning passed the officer鈥檚 inspection we were allowed out at about 1.0 p.m. for the rest of the day 鈥� if it did not pass , we had to do it all again and await another inspection a couple of hours later. My dreams of getting home frequently for the next 3 months were dashed .
They were finally totally crashed when after only about 6 weeks one of our evening training sessions was rudely interrupted by a sergeant who told us to pack up and go home on 5 days embarkation leave 鈥� after that to report to a Signals depot in Huddersfield . In the few days we were in Huddersfield, basically being kitted out for overseas service . We once paraded for inspection outdoors in full tropical kit , i.e. khaki shorts , lightweight cellular type shirt and pith helmet!! etc. 鈥� in typical north country mid-November weather . Eventually , we were put on a train in Huddersfield , with blacked out windows . With no names visible on the stations that we were passing through our destination was the subject of many amazing guesses including War Office H.Q. in London !!
The train finally stopped and we disembarked onto a blacked out platform , formed up and trooped off the station through a kind of subway at the far end of which was a large boat just waiting like a black hole in the darkness to swallow us up 鈥� which it did .It was here that I realised that I had reached a turning point in my life and war had become very real and serious . It has always amazed me how we were transported from Huddersfield to Greenock in Scotland and onto a boat without any of us having a clue as to where we were going . Our NCOs and officers never gave us a hint, even if they knew themselves .
However , there was a pleasant surprise to counter the shock . From the voices of the ship鈥檚 crew and the sight of their uniforms it was clear that they were American . As I later learned we were aboard the U.S.S.Samuel Chase : originally built in 1940 as a U.S.Coastguard ship she had been taken over by the U.S.Navy in February 1942. She had been named after one of the signatories of the American Declaration of Independence , who was a lawyer in Maryland and eventually became a Judge to the Supreme Court . The ship had taken part in the Allied invasion of North Africa , earlier in November , and had been the flagship for the landings just east of Algiers where she had suffered a number of air attacks and been narrowly missed by a torpedo .
Most of this information I got from the crew , who like most Americans that I have met seemed to like talking to us Brits . They seemed to be in no doubt that they were preparing to return , with us , to Algiers when the convoy had assembled in the next few days . I learned many years later that the 鈥淪amuel Chase鈥� had continued in operations in the Mediterranean , Sicily and Italy and eventually took part in the D Day
Invasion of Normandy and had landed assault troops on Omaha beach on 6 June .
This was my first real experience of Americans and I found them refreshingly friendly . Their equipment , uniforms and general living standards seemed to be better than ours . The first two or three days standing offshore awaiting the assembly of the convoy was an eye opener . Having already experienced 3 years of wartime conditions and rationing I found their food situation unbelievable . At breakfast . it wasn鈥檛 just egg and bacon , it was how many of each !! Eggs seemed to fry in seconds on a very hot plate and the server asked whether you wanted your eggs 鈥渟unny side up鈥� or 鈥渙ver easy鈥� (phrases I had never heard before 鈥� but are commonplace now ). There was wonderful white bread and unlimited jugs of coffee and milk . It was a British soldier鈥檚 gastronomic heaven .
We had been on board a day or so when the Americans had their Thanksgiving Day celebrations (24 November) 鈥� which meant not very much to me at the time but I think celebrates the landfall of the Pilgrim Fathers . The main meal for that day is perhaps best described as a bit like our Christmas dinner . The main course was roast turkey and potatoes , all kinds of vegetables , etc. plus various choices for sweet . But , importantly you could have as much as you wanted of any of it 鈥� and although it wasn鈥檛 our Thanksgiving they made it clear that we were their guests 鈥� and that is what Thanksgiving is all about !
I realised that this was a navy ship and things might well be different for their army but so many of the crew seemed to have radios and even record players . In fact I must have heard my first long playing record at that time because one of the crew had a recording of a radio programme on one large record . In those days a vinyl record only played about 3 minutes on each side . After this long time lapse I think it was called 鈥渢he mad bad Esposito brothers鈥� 鈥� apparently a bunch of gangsters , who meant mothing to me , but some of the crew used to gather around the record player to listen to it .
A day or so later the convoy had assembled and we set sail , in the night 鈥� but that鈥檚 another story .

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