大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War website by a volunteer from CSV/大象传媒 London on behalf of Jack Tokely and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr. Tokely fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

I was in barracks in Folkestone the night of VE Day. When we heard that the peace had come we all thought that we were going to get home, but we were on posting for the next day. We went to the main office where we were told then that we could still not get out of the barracks. Everybody was rejoicing but we were inside and were told 鈥測ou cannot go outside as you are to be posted tomorrow and if you do not go back to your huts you could be had for rebellion鈥�. So we all went back and that was the end of it and that was our VE Day. We were posted the next day, I cannot even remember where now. I was posted to so many places - it was in England somewhere. My final posting before the end of the war was in Bicester in the Ordinance Corps in Oxfordshire and I was there for about 2 years. I had missed it all but in the army you just do what you are told.

I enjoyed my army days and I wouldn鈥檛 have missed them. You had plenty of friends and mates you would go out with. You did work hard but the evenings and weekends you really looked forward to and some weekends you could get home. The atmosphere was completely different from what it is now. There was friendship and comradeship and it was, I don鈥檛 know why, completely different. Those days wont come back I think now.

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