大象传媒

I was born in Chiswick in 1918 but at the time of my call-up in May 1943, aged 24 years, I was living in Southall, north London. I served in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders from enlistment until demobilisation in 1947.

I went to Devonport on call-up and expected to be sent abroad with the Duke of Conrnwall's Light Infantry, but they were virtually wiped out before I could join them. Instead, I was sent up to Perth in Scotland, to a place called Campbell鈥檚 Die Works where the Argylls were stationed. I don鈥檛 know why I 鈥� a Londoner - was sent to join a Scots regiment, no explanations were given! Discipline was strict and PT was carried out in bitterly cold weather in shorts and slippers 鈥� nothing else!

On completion of Basic Training I went to Catterick and trained as an anti-tank gunner using weaponry which fired armour-piercing shells. I was there about three weeks after which I was sent overseas to serve in Italy, to Naples, in fact. When we arrived at our destination there were so many sunken ships in the harbour, the only way we could disembark was to walk across ramps to get on to dry land.

We moved up to Assisi from Casino where we were involved in an engagement with the enemy and it was at this time that I witnessed great acts of bravery carried out by Ghurkha soldiers - for whom I have the utmost respect. These men were and still are wonderful soldiers and I still contribute financially to their cause, from time to time.

Pisa was our next destination, round about the Christmas of 1943. We鈥檇 switched right across the country for some reason 鈥� nobody knew what was happening, especially as the Americans pattern-bombed Pisa just at that time, killing thousands upon thousands of people. Then we moved up to Florence and our anti-tank guns had to be man-handled into the grape-vines - which were grown on terracing 鈥� this was a hard job! No sooner had we built up our gun, the Germans destroyed it - so we were told we鈥檇 have to get another one! On the way to get this new gun we found that the Germans had blown away much of the road; our driver couldn鈥檛 get round a bend we came to and the lorry wheels were right on the edge of a ravine. The driver was really frightened by the sheer drop, so much so that he got out of the cab and ran! The soldiers in the back of the truck wanted to know how they were going to get out of this mess! I volunteered to drive the truck to safety, which I did, and after this was known I was summoned to appear before the C.O. who decided that as I鈥檇 just got my comrades and the truck out of a fix, that would be my new job 鈥� driving!

There was one terrible incident I remember when I was ordered to drive the truck along a road littered with dead bodies. This incident played on my mind for some time afterwards, having to drive over these men, and was little consolation to me, knowing that I had absolutely no choice in the matter.

When we went across the River Po we were told that General Auchinleck was leading a parade. So we were dressed up in all our paraphernalia which the locals thought was great! The Italians were all shouting 鈥淢amma Mia鈥� - and I鈥檒l tell you why! The boys were riding on the open truck and all of their kilts - four and a half yards of material - were blowing out in the wind as we drove along and no, we didn鈥檛 wear any underwear. In fact, one particular NCO at base took great care to check that we weren鈥檛 wearing any, which is why we weren鈥檛 allowed to go upstairs on a bus!

There was another funny incident I remember. We went home on leave one day to London and had to wear our uniform, more particularly our kilts! One local man thought this was hilarious 鈥� I was a Londoner (and he called me 鈥淛ock鈥�) in a Scots regiment and dressed in a kilt! People had never seen anything like it!

All told, I served at home, in Italy and Israel from where I was demobbed with the rank of Lance Corporal. When I was discharged early in 1947, it was really cold - the worst English winter for years and the Army had taken back my greatcoat 鈥� I was frozen stiff when I finally arrived back home. But I was home!

Dictated to John Noon on 26th November 2003.

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