大象传媒

The camp that we arrived at had at one time been an ATS camp. There were long huts, a dozen men per hut. In the village was one public house, which is where all the locals could be seen each night. All of the men in my hut would frequent this one and only pub as often as possible.

It was now winter. Each morning we had to parade for P.T. (physical exercise) at 6 o'clock, before breakfast. After breakfast we had a parade for arms drill, followed by route maarches. On Sunday we would play cards to while away the hours - there was vry little else to do. Myself and all the other men wondered why we were being put through all of this training again. Something was in the air, but we had not a clue as to what it could be.

I was still in charge of my guy truck. Snow now being on the ground, our orders were to let the water out of the truck each night to stop it becoming frozen and the engine freezing up, and to refill this water each morning. Dick, our corporal in charge and not a very nice chap, would do his rounds each night to see these orders had been carried out. He would check each truck to make sure the water had been let out. Of course, it would happen to me! This particular night it was not too cold so I did not let the water out of my truck, thinking our corporal would not check all of the trucks. I was wrong. He did, and so myself and two friends were put on a charge. We were called in front of the C.O. who banned us from leaving camp for seven days. As well as the dressing down, we had to help in the cook house and tend to all of the garbage - not a pleasant chore. But I must admit, it was our own fault.

We had been been in Honiton for about 4 months when orders came to move out in 2 weeks time. This time we were definitely going to Redcar. Once again, we would travel in convoy. My truck was almost at the end of the line. Each hour we would stop for a break, parking each truck fifty yards from the one in front. Each night we slept in the trucks. Food was made and served during these breaks. It took us 2 days to reach our destination. Finally we arrived and were billeted on the racecourse.

Upon arriving at Redcar, I got the feeling something was amiss, although what it was I did not know.

y wife and I had been married for 3 years now and she was pregnant with our first child. The baby was due in 6 weeks. The year was now 1943.

I was then told a draft had been chosen to go to the Far East. Where they were going, at that time I was not told, but there was relief as I was not on the draft. Unfortunately, one chap, who was on the draft, had not returned from his embarkation leave. Suddenly, I was on the draft even after explaining that my wife was pregnant and due very soon. Unfortunately nothing could be done. I was given 48 hours leave. Joan and I were devasted. These 48 hours went so very quickly and it was too soon time for me to return to my unit.

The officer in charge kept apologising as he knew about the situation, but the guy still had not returned and there was nothing he could do about it. The next day we packed our kit, and left Redcar the following day. The baby had not yet arrived - its due date was still 2 weeks away. It wrenched at my heart but there was nothing I could to stop my leaving England once again. The journey to Greenock in Scotland was uneventful. I could think of nothing else but not being in England, Joan, and not being with her when the baby was born.

Upon arrival at Greenock, we boarded a large Polish ship called the Sobiesky, issued with a hammock and shown how to use it. The food we were given ressembled slops. When we sailed out of Greenock it was well past midnight. Where we were headed to no-one knew. All we could do was guess. As the Sobiesky headed out to open sea a large convoy of ships, with a destroyer escort, joined it.

All of this time my mind was still on Joan. I felt terrible not knowing, wondering how she would cope, but knowing she was strong and would cope for as long as it took. With all of this playing on my mind I could not eat, which in itself was a blessing after seeing the food that was served.

Whilst on board we did a lot of fire and life-boat drills. After a few days the rumour went around that we were hea ding for Africa. Our first stop would be Freetown but we wuld not be allowed off the ship. It was a short stop. We understood that we would not get off this ship until it reached the port of Durban, South Africa. I noticed the destroyer escort and felt much more secure about the whole trip. Watching the destroyer move from left to right gave me a greatly needed feeling of comfort.

Upon our arrival in Durban, a train took us to a place called Clairwood camp. It was again a large field with one very large building, the rest of the area being covered by tents. I understood the building was the dining-room where we would have our meals. There were six men allotted to our tent. The food was very good but there was not a lot to do in the camp. One interesting and unexpected thing then happened. Not long after we had retired to our tents, young coloured boys entered with big baskets of the most wonderful fruits which were very reasonably priced. I must admit the fruit was most acceptable, as in England at that time fruit was in very short supply. For a few pence we could buy quite an amount of fruit, which we all did and proceeded to make complete pigs of ourselves.

The first day there no-one was allowed to leave camp. After that we could go into Durban town as the camp was located not far from the town. Our first experience in the town was a shock to all. The coloured people were not allowed to walk on the same side of the road as the whites or to be on the same bus as white people. This took both my friends and me aback. Unless you see this kind of severe racism for yourself, it is hard even to imagine that it could exist. I met quite a few people who were very kind and good to me. On one occasion, a person told me about a place called Issypingo where a lot of people would go as there was a natural swimming pool cut out of the rocks. I was only able to visit this place once, as again rumour spread that we were moving on.

Up until then I had not heard from Joan and had no idea if the baby had been born or if both were fine.

After 2 weeks at Clairwood we were informed we wre heading for India. I knew we were going to fight the Japanese.

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