大象传媒

Page 1/6 by Jack Nicholls
After- my first night in the Army, I was awakened, at Reveille by the lad in the next bed to me letting out a string of language at
the top of his voice and shouting " Some dirty b鈥�-鈥�-- has p鈥斺�斺�� in my boot. He picked it up, turned it upside down and a flood came out of it. Of course there was a howl of laughter, but I thought to myself, what sort of a crowd have I got among? I soon learned there were some rough diamonds amongst us, but in the weeks and months to come, found I couldn't have wished for a better lot of Comrades.

It is now almost 50 years since I joined the Army so my memories of those times are a bit blurred. However these are my
recollections and perhaps they may strike a chord with others who were Rookie*s once.

I volunteered for the R.A.S.C. as I was able to drive, knew my call up date was nearly due and let's face it, didn't fancy being a
footslogger. My call up papers arrived with instructions to report to Mansfield Railway Station . I can't remember the exact date I had to report, but it was sometime during the first week of March 1940. When I arrived at Mansfield there were a number of young men, mostly about my age ( at that time 22 ) reporting in. There was a mixed bag of us, some from Yorkshire, some from Lancashire, Jordies, Scots, Scouses, some from N, Ireland and even a few from S. Ireland, but all could drive. A Sergeant arrived, formed us into three ranks and we marched, after a fashion, to Evinsons Garage where we were to be billetted during our training. The large concrete floor had been cleared and on it there were rows of camp beds with a couple of blankets on each. Beds were allocated and away we went to the Q.M.'s Stores to be kitted out. Apparently Stores were in short supply because some of the stuff was secondhand and I was unfortunate enough to be issued with a pair of second hand boots. I don't know who had them before me,- he must have been crippled, because they certainly crippled me for a while.

We spent three or four weeks at Mansfield being licked into shape, drilling on a wide stretch of road by the Firestation where there was never a shortage of interested onlookers, hoping for something to go wrong, so they could get a laugh. There were few rifles, just sufficient for the duty guards and the only time there was an opportunity to handle one was if you were unlucky enough to be detailed for Guard duty. Then you were given a short intensive course of Rifle Drill by an N.C.O. with a voice like a bull who insisted that unless you tore the skin between your thumb and forefinger when you presented arms you weren't doing it smartly enough. He wasn't really liked!!

The Mess Room was a large hall, a fair distance away from the Billets. We marched there for every meal and spent a long time queueing to be served but the food wasn't too bad. The only snag was that if you were one of the last to be served, no sooner had you sat down than there was a shout "Fall in outside"; so those who were served last just had to bolt the food down. On one occasion, "Rabbit Stew" was chalked up on the Menu Board. In my serving I found a bone at least six inches long with a large knuckle joint at each end. Some rabbit! Anyway it caused a great deal of laughter, with many suggestions as to where it had come from.

After about a fortnight at Mansfield we were told we were going to the Swimming Baths to be followed "by an F.F.I. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 an F.F.I.?鈥� we asked, not having had one before, but none of the N.C.O.'s seemed to want to enlighten us. "Anyway鈥� we thought, "it can't be all that bad", and the prospects of having a swim was very enticing. It was something we were going to get familiar with during our time in the Army.

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