大象传媒

It was a truly beautiful sight, the two sister ships "Franconia" and "Lancastria" heading North in the early morning sunshine off the West coast of Scotland, flanked by two destroyers. My unit the 160th, Field Ambulance R.A.M.C. which I had joined in Northern Ireland had been allocated the garden lounge on the "Franconia". We had already worked out that if the sun came up on our right on our first morning at sea, it meant that we were heading North. It was Tuesday May 14th 1940 and our only possible destination had to be Norway where fighting was still taking place. Years later I discovered that we had been bound for Norway, but at the very last minute, had been diverted.

On Thursday May 16th, we were assembled at boat stations to be told we were bound for Iceland. We were also told we should be given billets with the local population, as far as possible and to be friendly and courteous to them at all times. Later that day someone shouted "Iceberg ahead" and we all rushed to the rails to see this phenomenon. As we got nearer, I had my doubts as to whether it was an iceberg and realised it was a snow-clad mountain. Visions of Eskimos, igloos and eternal snows, floated before my eyes.

A few hours later, we came to a halt outside Reykjavik harbour. It looked like a rather small Scandinavian port and the "Lancastria" began unloading troops. Later that day Staff/Sergeant "Bert Miners" poked his head round the door of the garden lounge and shouted "I want three volunteers - You, you and you" jabbing his finger at me and two others. "Get your kit and follow me" a few minutes later we were descending the gangway where a lighter was waiting to take us ashore and "Bert" laconically told us we were going to pick up some equipment at the newly established ordnance depot. This turned out to be a dried fish factory with fish laid out drying on the cobbles, (no fridges or freezers in those far off days). The place stank to high heaven!

We found a consignment of tents waiting for us to load in the lorry and away we went, we knew not where. On our way through Reykjavik, we passed an Icelandic lady in National costume with apron and the most lovely decorated black lace head dress (I understand from Marjorie Lendon with John has of recent years visited Iceland that this beautiful national costume has now disappeared completely). What a great shame, as it really was most lovely.

To return to the lady we saw as we passed in the lorry. She was cleaning the front of her house with mop, bucket and broom, we waved to her as we had been instructed. She shook her mop at us and with a stream of Icelandic invective, disappeared inside her house and slammed the front door behind her. I must say that this was the only sign of disapproval of our presence. The remainder of the population accepted us with little difficulty. I must here mention the Salvation Army who were exceptionally good to us. We had been dumped on their shore with no N.A.A.F.I canteen and nowhere we could even get cup of tea. They took care of that and within a day or so opened a place where we could go and get some sort of light refreshment.

After an incredibly rough ride over the red dust volcanic ash roads we arrived at a rock strewn field, which I at first sight took to be the Icelandic version of the B.B.C as there were two masts together with a small brick built control centre. I later understood the Icelanders kept in touch with their fishing fleet, and this field was to be our home. It wasn't long before I realised the tents we had brought with us were for our use, and as other chaps of our unit began arriving, we were all given the order to "dig in" and make the best of it. So much for billets with the local residents.

The cookhouse was across a bridle path and had been established in what had previously been a shelter for sheep. When cookhouse was blown we were glad of the respite. We queued with our dixies and received an extremely hot tin straight out of the sawyers. We couldn't handle them so asked for some tin openers. We were told none were available and that we should extemporise by using our pocket knives and stones with which the area abounded. That was some meal and I shall never forget it. The tins contained something we got to know as "M&V" (Meat and Vegetables). How high in the animal Kingdom the meat was I daren't even guess. Alongside the cookhouse was a pipe about 3ft high above the ground from which the sheep used to drink. This we were told was to be our bathroom, and as the water from it seemed to have been connected to the nearest glacier, it was certainly cold. These arrangements continued for some days when we were told we could use the public baths in Reykjavik to where the hot springs had been connected. Sheer luxury after that freezing pipe.

We had only been in the camp a few days before "schemes" started. Some of you will know that they were exercises to ensure that if Jerry invaded Iceland, we would give a good account of ourselves. Sometimes this entailed taking part with other troops, at other-times it would be the Field Ambulance only. On these occasions we would climb up the Icelandic mountains carrying the attached R.A.S.C on stretchers shoulder high of course. If they barracked us too much at a pre-arranged signal, one corner of the stretcher would be dropped and the "patient" would be catapulted to the ground.

On one occasion it was decided to combine a scheme with some sightseeing. We toiled up a mountain and I could see what looked like steam issuing from the ground under great pressure. Out of three huge fissures with a noise like a dozen steam engines, the steam only becoming visible some 10ft above our heads as a large white cloud.

A little further ahead we entered a steep-sided valley where the oddest things were going on. Pools of boiling water, mud and lava bubbled to the surface, the lava disappearing temporarily with a horrible choking sound to re-appear and go through the same performance again. We had brought some food with us, which we ate and it was strange to see the dixie dipped into the boiling water pools and become instantly clean again.

We were just commenting about this and suddenly there was a deep subterranean rumble. We turned to each other and said "what on earth was that?" the whole valley started to quake, rocks and small boulders began to dislodge themselves and bounced around us. I was petrified and fully expected the whole area to dissolve in flames and that we should all perish. The awful rocking and quaking went on for some five to ten seconds and then all was still again. We departed from that mountain in double quick time.

Another time in the course of our duties we were able to see the great geyser of Iceland. This turned out to be a large area of water and we were told to stand back when instructed to do so, otherwise we would be drenched in water. We awaited events with interest. I was puzzled to see what seemed to be a large carton being prepared. This turned out to be containing none other than household soap. It was placed in the water and we were advised to re-treat once the earth started shaking, which accordingly we did. Suddenly a huge column of water issued from the centre of the large pool, the soap having precipitated the geyser to erupt many feet above our heads.

This gives some little idea what life was like for the forces in Iceland. One last thing, some of you might remember the divisional signs we used to wear on our shoulders. They were about "2 square" and the 49th division in Iceland to which we belonged showed a polar bear surrounded by ice and snow. The odd thing was that there are no polar bears in Iceland, you have to go to Greenland for them.

By RON RAWLE

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