大象传媒

This story has been submitted to the People鈥檚 War website by a volunteer from Lincoln CSV Action Desk on behalf of Ray Evans and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr Evans fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

I began to notice that some of the young lads like me have been waving envelopes about and going into the office with a smile on their faces. At lunch time asking what all that was about, I learnt that they have been called up for the army. I must say that up to now I had not even thought about being called up for the armed forces but I hoped that if I was then it would be the Royal Navy as I fancied being on a ship. I told mom that young lads like myself were being called up and she said that I needn鈥檛 worry about it because they wouldn鈥檛 get round to me. However, the more I thought about it the more I wanted to get away from the place where I was working 50 hours a week, but I didn鈥檛 tell mom that.

Anyhow, a few months later after the usual routine of work all week and weekends with Jessie for dancing, etc, I came home one night and mom was crying and dad was looking very serious. When I asked why, she handed me a large official buff coloured envelope with an official stamp saying On His Majesty鈥檚 Service. I guessed what was inside. It was my calling up papers. After trying to calm mom down I eventually opened the envelope.

I was to travel from Birmingham to Colchester. My London train left at 9.20 am and was due in at Paddington at 1300. I noticed two or three young men wandering about on the platform with little suitcases so I presumed they were being sent somewhere too. The journey was slowish and stopped at many stations on the way. We got in a little late and it was well after 1300 so I checked for King鈥檚 Cross Station. When I got there, there were Military Police waiting for men arriving from the tubes. Each one of us had to produce our rail passes and then it was stamped again and I was told which platform to go to. When I got to the platform there were quite a few of us awaiting the train to Colchester. When we arrived there it was like walking into another world. Military Police were everywhere telling you to keep together and make towards the end of the platform and stay there. When it seemed that we were all there we were marched under guards into the street where there were army 3 ton lorries waiting for us. We threw our cases in and climbed aboard.

When we arrived at our base we were told by a Corporal that this was the Mess Hall and inside were to billy cans and a mug, knife, fork and spoon. We had to keep these after our meal and clean and wash them at the rear of the dining room and then assemble in two ranks for our next movement. I can鈥檛 remember what that first meal was, I was so hungry.

One day on parade we were marched down to the firing range and after instructions as to what to do I waited my turn. There were about 6 targets about 100 yards away and each one of us laid down and were shown to load the rifle and how the bullets were held in the magazine. When we were ready we held our arm upright informing the range instructor that we were ready to commence firing. I fired and reloaded and fired again. After a few minutes a stick with a lollipop appeared from the target and was waving about. The Corporal told me afterwards that I had two hits. That made me pleased. After that we had to go back to the barracks to clean our rifles.

Our next exercise was throwing hand grenades. We all lined up in single file in a trench and when it was our turn, we had to go through the drill we had been taught for throwing the grenades. We were throwing two each but there was a bit of a panic when one of the lads dropped his grenade in the trench. The instructor pushed him away and picked up the armed grenade and managed to drop it over the trench just before it exploded. We were all very glad when that exercise was over.

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