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These stories are transcribed by me Graham Shepherd , from notes and discussions with Ted Tinsley , and will be added to the site with his permission . He understands the sites terms and conditions .

Boxing

I was always a keen boxer and during my military career a number of opportunities arose which enabled me to use my skills in order to earn money .
When I joined the 1st Bat. KSLI at Kamptee about 10 miles from Nagpur city I competed in the inter - company boxing and was then pursuaded to enter for the individual boxing championships as a heavyweight , although only 19 years old and barely 11 stone ! My first opponent was a massive man and I may have been lucky as he was disqualified . After that I got through quite easily and I still have the statuette now . That was in 1937 and I never boxed again until 1943.

I was at that time stationed in Bangalore with the 4th Border Regt. in the months between the Arakan Front and the Chindits campaign and one day when I was in the gym sparring a Sgt Newton came and asked me if I would like to earn some money , as he could arrange some fights for me .

There was a huge building called Hollywood city which was run by a war charity , but army regulations only allowed amature boxing consisting of three , three minute rounds , but my bouts were to be of six , three minute rounds for which I would be paid 100 repees - about £7-50 - a large amount for a soldier ! I first had to get my COs permission and a medical .

I had about four bouts on a Sunday night each fortnight and my last bout was billed as the ' Army versus All India ' . This was staged at the Sullivan sports ground , for which I was paid about £8-00 - a small fortune then !

It all came to an end when we moved to our training camp .

Internment

When war was declared in 1939 I was in Jamaica , and we set up an internment camp and initially picked up all German Nationals but after two weeks all German Jews were also interned . Both parties had to be kept apart as they hated each other .
When Hitler ordered all German ships to return to home ports , the British West Indies fleet captured a large amount of German cargo and other vessels and I was part of the boarding party escorting crews for internment . A new internment camp had to be built on the Big weapons firing range to house the hundreds of internees.

Oil Guard Duty

I was out in Curacao , Dutch Antilles during 1941 carrying out guard duty at the Royal Dutch Shell oil terminal . Since the oil supply from the far east was cut off this was a very strategic supply . There were about 100 of us involved and we worked in teams of about 25 . The site was so big that we were taken by transport to our positions .

We would work for many days at a time , and I recall one man getting caught asleep , and being sent to Jamaica to serve two years in the glass house .

A group of four of us were on guard when the Sgt. Major came and stood next to me and asked ‘ am I hurting you son ‘ . No was the reply . Well I should be I’m standing on your hair - the four of you get it cut .

When we went off duty we went to the wet canteen - beer - and when we finished drinking realised we had not had our hair cut , so got some scissors and cut each others hair - what a mess ! Next morning was a day off so we decided that we needed to get it sorted out so went and found Lance Cpl. Dick Churm who was a hairdresser in civy life , and asked if he could smarten it up for us He said no chance , but that he could shave it all off for us .

We had a ‘ interior economy ‘ ( kit & billet inspection ) later , and when the officer saw our hair he told us that we were all on a charge for not having the regulation one inch of hair on the top of our heads . When asked why our heads were shaved my mate said scurvy and we all gave different excuses .

Although the charge was admonished , it still stayed on our records .

Housey Housey

When we set off from Liverpool for India , each of the merchant ships had had a 6 " fixed to the rear of the ship and carried a gun crew . When I went on board the gun Sgt . called me over and offered me what he called the easiest job on board . He asked me to run the Housey Housey for the troops , ensuring that 10% of the money went to the ships welfare and the rest back in prizes . Well this was too good to be true and three of us made lots of money en route to Durban .

In Durban we were able to take taxies to the Federal Hotel to drink every night - real posh . After closing time we were then able to but liqueur from bootleggers . Later we realised that this was not what we should have done - but such is life !

No arms and legs .

We were doing internal security during 1942 at Patna , Bihar Provence and were to be billeted at the railway station , but the first place we were allocated were open barred cattle pens . It was a terrible place and with beggars always bothering us it was impossible to sleep . our officer said he would talk to the CO , but it explanation amused us all . He said ‘ there are beggers all around here without arms and legs and they are sticking them through the bars asking for money ‘ !

Mules and Horses

When we were training for the Chindits 2nd Expeditionary force at next to the River Ken in Gwalior Province , we were joined by the mules and officers horses which were to be with us on our expedition . Because silence was the key requirement during the complete campaign , the voice boxes of all the mules an horses had to be removed . There were a team of six vets involved , and I led a team of the ‘ throwing parties ‘ whose job was to get the mules onto the ground and hold them while a bag was put over their head and chloroform administered . When the operation was finished a bucket of cold water down their ears made them as good as new . They were given first class attention - better than the men - and were redressed frequently for about three weeks and given gentle exercise .

Fishing with rods

During this six week training period we had plenty of leisure time , and my pal who was catholic got friendly with Father Manning who was also Catholic , and when told by the Father that he was going to Janse was there anything he wanted he asked for a fishing rod .

The fish were called ‘ mahseer ‘ like huge carp , and when we cast the line and put the rod on the rocks , if we got a bite the rod was pulled into the river and we had to jump in to get the fish . We had plenty of fish to eat and also gave some to the cooks .

Fishing with depth charge

We also had a team of Royal Engineers based with us , and once a week they would go into the river with their boat and sound out the depth and when over the deepest spot where the fish gathered , drop a depth charge . This stunned the fish who floated to the surface and we jumped in to collect them . Every one present had fish on this day .

River crossing

We had to practice river crossing with our mules using a rope to guide us , and on one occasion we saw one of our more senior Majors , standing in just his top and about to jump into the river . One of the men shouted to him that he still had his watch on and the Major appreciated this so took it off put it in the pocket of his top and still jumped into the river

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