大象传媒

During the late 1930s Germany, under the rule of Adolf Hitler, started to build up a large army and it looked like they were about to cause trouble. We carried on our lives hoping the trouble would blow over. Our Prime Minister at the time was Neville Chamberlain. He went over to Germany to talk to Hitler and came back waving a piece of paper saying 鈥淧eace in our time鈥�. Germany invaded one or two countries in Europe. The French and our Government said that if Poland was invaded it would mean war. We arrived home from our holiday in Mablethorpe on a Saturday at the beginning of September 1939. War broke out on the Sunday.

Call Up and Basic Training
I was eventually called up into the Army early in 1940. I joined the Royal Engineers and was initially posted to Gibraltar Barracks at Aldershot, which was the motor transport training depot. After we had done a month鈥檚 basis training to try to turn us into soldiers we were taken to the motor transport garage where the sergeant took us for a heavy goods vehicle test drive.
After a few days he took me for another test then asked me if I would like to become a driving instructor. He told me I would get promoted to Lance Corporal and I would get a few shillings extra pay and so would Ivy.
When I joined the army, Ivy had her pay direct from the Government but this was less than half the housekeeping money she had from my wages. I really didn鈥檛 know how she was going to manage on such a small amount. My army pay, as a private was seven shillings per week. Out of that I had to buy all my cleaning materials, which left me with absolutely nothing for myself. So extra money (for both Ivy and myself) that accompanied my early promotion to Lance Corporal was most welcome. With my first pay rise I went into Aldershot and bought Ivy a wooden fruit bowl, which was still standing on the refrigerator in the kitchen sixty years later.
So, I became a driving instructor. All went well for the first few weeks until I was asked to give some lectures in the classroom. No way was that my scene, but I did have a try. After a short time I was sure that it was definitely not for me and so I asked if I could return to driving instructing which I did. After another few weeks I was posted to a large garage in Swindon working on lorries. The garage was called Skurray鈥檚. There was no barracks nearby so I was put up in lodgings with a couple of other lads with a Mr and Mrs Dibbings. We stayed there for six months and it was just like going to work as we had done as civilians. As we finished work at 12 o鈥檆lock midday on Saturday, I was able to have the weekend free, so I hitchhiked home from Swindon to spend a few hours with Mum and Margaret. However, as it was a very tiring journey and I was always worried about getting back on time, I only did it a few times.

Although Mr Dibbings was too old to go into the forces he wasn鈥檛 too old to go to the pub. He liked to go for a pint and a game of dominoes. If he came back with a sad face we knew he鈥檇 loss a few pence but if he came back with a smile, we knew he鈥檇 won a few pence.
Mr and Mrs Dibbings had a daughter in her mid-forties. Her husband was working for a company in South Africa. We didn鈥檛 get to know her name, but she was living in a large house not far from her mum and dad. As she was on her own, the garden and a few repairs needed doing. So to pass the time after work we went and did a few odd jobs for her. I鈥檓 sure she appreciated our small effort.
After six months we were moved to the Royal Engineers depot at Halifax to be given our overseas posting. I was given a whole two days leave before myself and twenty-four other engineers were sent to Glasgow to board a ship. We had no idea where we were being sent. My tour of duty for the next five years is shown on the map on the following page. The first leg of my journey took me to South Africa and the voyage was very unpleasant to say the least. I think the ship was called the 鈥楥ameronian鈥�.

The Cameronian

Although it was a really nasty journey we must remember we were at war, so we had to try and put up with all the inconveniences. As I have mentioned, there were only twenty-five engineers on board ship. We had no officer with us and therefore as I was corporal, I had to try to sort things out. The ship was overcrowded with soldiers from every regiment and also a great number of Air Force men and we were in convoy with several other ships. There were also two gunboats to escort us for fear of the German submarines. We went right across the Atlantic and down the America coast before turning back towards Africa once we were clear of the 鈥楿鈥� Boats. We anchored off Freetown鈥� Sierra Leone, no doubt to pick up supplies, but we were not allowed off the boat. After only two or three days, we carried on round Africa and eventually landed at Durban. The journey took us over eight weeks. As I have said, the conditions we had to tolerate during this long voyage were far from pleasant. The ship had been crudely converted to carry troops. We had a long rough wooden bench, which was our table. Each side of this was an equally rough wooden plank to sit at the table (mind the splinters!). There were hooks in the ceiling above the table set far enough apart so that we could sling our hammocks. So if we were lucky we were able to climb on the table and scramble into our hammocks and try to get a bit of sleep.

The two lads at the end of the table were responsible for going to the galley to collect the food for all of us. The breakfast was passable 鈥� cornflakes or porridge, bread and perhaps a bit of bacon. Dinner was always meat. Although it had been cooked it was as red as you see it in the butchers shop and as tough as a piece of leather. The potatoes and vegetables that came with it were either rock hard or really mushy. We gave the meat the nickname of 鈥榬ed biddy鈥�. When the lads fetched it, it was passed down the table and thrown straight out of the porthole. It was so tough none of us could eat it. I hope the fish were able to do something with it.
Although the food left much to be desired, the cooks must have had a thankless job to cater for such a large number of men especially with the obviously limited food supplies they had to work with. One good thing was that the bread was baked each night so that was fresh each day. We found out that if the bakers had any dough left over from the bread making, they made cobs, which they sold for a few pence a dozen. We took it in turns to queue most of the night hoping to be able to buy a few cobs that we kept to have with our night drink, which was either tea or cocoa. There was a N.A.A.F.I. (Navy, Army and Air Force Institute shop) on board but that was only open a few hours a day. There again we had to queue for hours hoping to get our turn before it closed.
Although it was fairly easy to have a crude wash using a small tin basin, it was almost impossible to have a shower. I did just manage it a time or two. As for washing your clothes, that was another thing. As I write this and think back all those years, I can almost see the funny side of it, although it wasn鈥檛 at all amusing at the time. What I did was to make my clothes into a bundle with a piece of soap in the middle then tie the bundle onto the end of a long length of strong, thin rope. Then I would hang it out of a porthole and let the sea give it a good pounding. I had to hold on to the rope very tightly or all my clothes would have sailed away. After I thought my bundle had taken enough beating I would then pull them out of the water and let them dry still outside the porthole.
We rounded the South African Cape and eventually landed in the docks at Durban. At long last we were allowed to go ashore and stretch our legs although we had to go back to the ship at night.
Durban
One of the lads and had a stroll round Durban and along the promenade. While we were standing idly looking around a man came up to us and asked if we鈥檇 just come off the boat. As we were at war we were a bit cautious and were not sure how to answer him. Eventually we did tell him we had just arrived on the boat. He then invited us to go with him to the beach to meet his wife and two daughters. They were having a picnic and after introductions we were asked to join in with them. These kind people were Mr and Mrs Warren and their daughter鈥檚 names were Joyce and Hazel. They asked if we would like to go back to their house and have an evening meal with them. Of course we couldn鈥檛 refuse. When it was time to return to the ship, they said that as the following day was Monday, they would be at work. However, they suggested that we could meet their daughter who worked in a shop. She would then take us back to their house so we could have a meal and spend the evening with them. We spent four days with Warren family by which time they had asked us for our home addresses. I heard later that they sent Ivy small parcels of food now and again and as rations at home were very meagre I am sure they were greatly appreciated. They also sent Margaret a present or two and a few photographs of their daughter鈥檚 weddings.

As I write this I do regret not keeping in touch with the Warrens.

It was in Durban that I bought the small camera that I used during the war. However I had to get permission from our Colonel Grant before I was able to use it.

The Trip to India
So after only four days, it was time to continue our journey. This time however it was on a P and O liner and what a change it was. We where allocated a cabin between four of us 鈥� which was a treat for a start. We had the use of a lounge and a proper dining room. The meals were like banquets compared with the Cameronian. We were even waited on.
At night the cabins got so hot that some of us slept on the deck. In the morning the native lad would come along and shout, 鈥淲akey, wakey 鈥� washy decky!鈥� and we had to get up or have an unwanted wash. It was rather easy to have a proper shower without them giving you one as well.

Bombay
After a long and tiring voyage of over two weeks we arrived in Bombay 鈥榯he gateway to India鈥�. There again we were allowed to go ashore but had to return to the boat until we were sorted out.
鈥楨ast is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet鈥� 鈥� never a truer word was said. The first thing, of course, was we couldn鈥檛 speak or understand the language. The next thing we soon realised was that cows are considered sacred animals and were allowed to wander freely except on the main roads. Their dirt never seemed to be cleaned up so the smell was almost overpowering. The next thing we noticed was the difference between the rich and the poor. There were a lot of beggars. Parents even sent out very small children to beg and a lot were deformed to make them more pathetic looking. At night you had to be particularly careful because the poor just lay on the pavements so you had to walk round them.
We did meet one British soldier who had been in India for a number of years. He asked a couple of us if he could show us round Bombay. He could speak the language and really did know his way around. We got a pony and trap (tonga?) to take us round the town and the things we saw were unbelievable.
After a few days in Bombay our platoon of twenty-four engineers was sent off in twos and threes to different parts of India. By that time I had been promoted to sergeant and another sergeant, called Harold Sills, and myself were posted to Lahore in the Punjab in Pakistan. The journey took us a full thirty-six hours. We were given our documents and train tickets which had a carriage number on them. We were told that somebody would be at the station to see us off and tell us what to do. This person turned out to be another British soldier. He showed us the restaurant car and also our carriage. He strongly advised us to keep the carriage door locked at all times. When we wanted to go to the restaurant, we had to wait until the train stopped at a station. We would then unlock the door, lock it behind us, run and scramble through the crowds of natives to get to the restaurant car. We would have a bit to eat and then at the next station we would rush back to our carriage and again lock ourselves in. Although the restaurant staff were Indian, at least they could speak English, which made things a little easier. The crowds at every station where like a football match with lots of pushing and shoving. I wondered how often someone got badly hurt.
The reason we had to lock the carriage door was to stop the natives from crowding us out and stealing our belongings (鈥楲oose wallah鈥� is a thief).
The carriage was self-contained with two seats, which folded down to form a bed. There was also a washbasin and a toilet, which was partitioned off for privacy.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.