大象传媒

I was called up to serve 6 months at 20 years of age and was place in the army. I was sent on 15th November to Woolwich Barracks and on the way down to London I met another lad who was going too, so we palled up. His name was Jackie Monaghan and he was a professional boxer. We were put in the same barrack room and started to train. The first week we had to train in our suits as there were no uniforms and we used a pole to march with as there were no rifles.

We received our battle dress and boots the second week and after marching up and down we all had blisters on our feet. At night I went with Jackie to the gym, I didn鈥檛 go to box, just to watch. There was a sergeant fighting a young lad and really punishing him to the point when the lad was down and had had enough. The sergeant was about 14 stone or more and a real bully and Jackie asked could he have a go. The sergeant agreed and Jackie put the gloves on and he cut the sergeant to pieces, cut his eyes and nose and gave the sergeant a pasting. Jackie said to the sergeant, 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e training lads, teach them to defend themselves and don鈥檛 punish them as you have just done.鈥� The sergeant was off duty for over a week and when he came back he wouldn鈥檛 go near Jack.

I was transferred to join a recovery section 鈥� when a wagon broke down we would go and pick it up and repair it. We had a Scamell which could pull anything out, including tanks. We went to France in January 1940 with the 51st Highland Division and I found out that my brother鈥檚 regiment, the Bolton Artillery was with us. (My brother was Stan Hanson, who played in goal for Bolton Wanderers in the 1953 cup final. The whole of the Bolton team joined up and served in the war together). We travelled all day and finished up in a very small village and got on with our job. We had two Irish lads with us, one was a blacksmith, the other lad was his striker. There was a caf茅 on the main road about two miles away and we went there for a drink at night. The Irish lads went out one night and the following morning they were missing on parade. We went looking for them and they were found fast asleep in the village smithy drunk as a lord. We got them back to camp and found out one of them had lost his teeth, so out again along the road to the caf茅, where we found the teeth by the side of the road. They had been drinking Vin Blanc and had a couple of bottles each and when they had a drink of water they were drunk again. The CO gave them a lecture and we carried on with the job. We went to another village near Belgium and had our workshop and quarters in a barn. We had a job one day, a 25 pound gun from Stan鈥檚 mob with a bent shaft. The fitters took the wheels off and stripped it down and another chap and I helped the blacksmith to repair it. We got the anvil out of the Scamell and set it up and the welder and I had to heat it up with oxygen and gas for the blacksmith. We were doing this when a sergeant rode up on his bike and he wanted to know what we were doing there as the Germans had broken through and we were between them and our front line. We packed up and left the gun there without its breach block and moved back about ten miles and put up in some barns which were rotten with chicken fleas, so we all had to sleep outside. The following morning we all had to jump in the river and clean ourselves. The Scamell crew had gone back to bring the gun back and found the Germans had machine gunned the village and left 46 people dead 鈥� so you imagine what the people thought about us.

After about 2 years working in parts of this country I was transferred abroad in June 1942. I joined a group going to the Middle East. We travelled in convoy and on the way a football match was arranged for when we arrived in Cape Town. I got a shock when the first day in Cape Town I noticed Stan鈥檚 badge on one bloke鈥檚 uniform. I asked him if he was from Bolton and he said yes and that he knew Stan. So I asked him to tell Stan that I would meet him the following day when we were allowed ashore. We met up and one of the locals we had met before took us to the local football ground, we had a good time. They played one match and then another team would come out and have their match. Unfortunately, our football match had to be cancelled as we were leaving that night, but if it had gone ahead I would have been playing against Bolton Wanderers.

Our ship and the one Stan was on left that night and we went up the Red Sea at full speed to get to Egypt. We arrived at Port Suez and went to the transport camp to be detailed to different places. On my first night I was put on guard at the pumping station. At 4.00 I was ordered to get my kit and get ready to move out. We were put on a train at Cairo which was going to Haifa. It takes 24 hours for the journey. We stopped at midnight at a camp in the middle of the desert for a meal and then we were back on the train, arriving in Haifa at 9.00am. We went to a camp that was being built about 30 miles from Haifa. The engineers were putting tents up and we were put in a building that finished up as the sergeant鈥檚 mess. I put my groundsheet down, then my blanket and went to sleep. We had been told to shake our boots when we got up in the morning. At 6am we were woken up and I got dressed, I lifted the groundsheet up to put away and there were 2 scorpions under the sheet. I killed them and warned the other lads to watch out as the place was full of them and centipedes.

We trained the local lads from Palestine to use the machines we put up. They were good workers and soon picked it up and learnt how to use them. I was there about 5 months, we had a football team and we beat all the other units in the area around Haifa.

I was posted to Cairo and was placed in one of the sub workshops. I was put in charge of a lot of Egyptians they were good workers, very clever in metal work. There were about ten of us and a Sergeant Major, a Sergeant and a Corporal. We were now called Craftsmen instead of Private and the new unite created was R.E.M.E. I was in charge of some workmen who were making splash pans for the feeding boilers we made in the workshop. In the 3 years I was there my men and I made 33,000 splash pans.

I played football for our unit No 4 joined by No 3 workshop and No 10 making up a team. It was up at 6am, one hour doing PT with the Officer who was in charge of the football team, back at 7am, showered, made our beds and had breakfast and at work from 8am to 8pm. We had our meals in sections so as to keep the work carrying on. The Egyptians said their prayers at the time required, we left them to it and never had any trouble with them. The Officer who was in charge of our football team was posted to Headquarters and ran the football team there. One weekend four of our football team were invited to travel to Alex as the team from headquarters were playing a tem there. After the match we were allowed to go into Alex. We went to a club where you bought the girls a drink to have a dance with them. One of the lads, Taffy and I used to jitterbug in our canteen after work at night. The band started playing 鈥業n the Mood鈥� so Taffy and I started to jitterbug, they cleared the floor and watched us. I was throwing Taffy all over the dance floor. When the music finished we sat down for a drink and the Manager came over and asked us could we come back the next night and he would pay us. We had to refuse as we were due back at our unit the following day.

I was granted a months鈥� leave in 1945 and got married. I went back to Cairo and when I got there no 4 workshop had closed and I was put in no 3 and put in charge of the men I had had in no 4. There were about 90 men in total and we had to produce 100 boilers a day. I had to get 500 boilers out Monday to Friday and on the Saturday morning I had them all out to clean and clear the shop ready for Monday morning. It was extra money for them and they were very pleased for the extra.

We were playing in one match when I was batted in my eye and it soon went black, I couldn鈥檛 see and I asked the officer if I could go off. The answer was 鈥� you have another eye haven鈥檛 you?鈥�

While I was in no 4 workshop our Sergeant Major said why don鈥檛 we buy a young goose and we can feed it up for Christmas. So we made a little compound and fed it. On Christmas Eve morning the Sergeant Major asked us who was going to kill the goose - nobody said anything. He said I have 14 men here and not one of you will kill the goose, what sort of soldiers have I got here. We asked him would he kill it, but he said no. That night, after we had had our meal, the Sergeant Major said 鈥楪et dressed, you鈥檙e going into Cairo鈥�. So all of us got in the wagon, then the Sgt Major arrived with the goose in his arms, with a red dicky bow tie round its neck. At the club we put the goose on the table and gave it a drink, then we put it on the dance floor and it started going round with all of us doing a samba. The crowd joined in and we had a real laugh. The manager sent for the Red Caps and when they turned up they said I might have known it would be you. We got thrown out and had to phone our driver to pick us up. We gave the goose to our cook for his family.

The following morning I was woken up with what I thought was a woman, next I was carried out to a wagon from No 3, in my vest and nothing else, put on the wagon and we drove all around Cairo, with me trying to keep out of sight. We came back to the local football ground, where the officers were all dressed up. Our football officer was dressed as a pirate, and our officer was in goal dressed as a clergyman with his collar around the wrong way. After a while one of my mates went back to our billet and brought me a pair of shorts. Then in the afternoon we went to no 3 for the Xmas dinner. They had a few photos of what went on in the morning. There was I cringing, trying to keep my vest down. The photos were all cut up on army orders.

While I was in no 4 workshop, I had special jobs to do. My first was making 50 blanket boxes for the tanks we had in Alamein. I received the drawings and got a shock. There wasn鈥檛 a square or 90 degree angle on any of them, all were a different angle, so it took me quite a while to work it out. Anyway, I made one up and kept patterns for the rest and had the inspector come and pass it. He was as bad as me when he looked at the drawings, I had to show him the different angles on every side. He saw what I had done and the boxes were made and fitted in the tanks. The lads in the tanks needed extra blankets for when it went cold at night.

The Second job was making 50 petrol tanks, 50 gallons each. I got the lads to make them up and I soldered every one of them and tested them so they wouldn鈥檛 leak. I made a kiln of bricks to heat the soldering iron, it kept me busy for days. The next job was a dangerous one, I had to solder a limpet mine for the Navy, we had to send everybody out of the area as the explosives were in each end of the mine and I had to solder the centre part with all the wires and switch inside to keep any water from getting in. I was promoted to corporal for that job. I had an officer and one lad working with me. I started at 8.00pm and worked through the night until 5.00am. The officer said I had done a good job. I had to sign a form saying I wouldn鈥檛 talk to anybody about what I had done. Most of the jobs I did were secret, when I made patterns for a job the workmen didn鈥檛 know what they were for. I enjoyed doing these jobs and time didn鈥檛 come into it.

Our officer was a peacetime officer and just about to retire, so he was awarded a title and mentioned in despatches. He told us that they could not give us any more than a stripe. When he retired he gave me his box of tools and I felt flattered, but when I came home for my month鈥檚 leave I lost all of the tools. When I went back I tried to trace them, but somebody had made a good job of hiding them.

I was demobbed in March 1946 and had a lot of memories. I served six and a half years but I was one of the lucky ones who came home.

Frederick Hanson
January 2004

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