大象传媒

We were anchored offshore from Greenock for a few days and I was enjoying life (especially the food) on the U.S.S.Samuel Chase. However , I awoke early one morning towards the end of November 1942 to find that we were on the move . During the night we had put to sea . By the time I got on deck my little world had changed . No more friendly Scottish coastline in the near distance , just nothing to see but the sea ; a grey rolling expanse of water .
My overseas odyssey had begun.

With others of my Signals section I got into the queue for breakfast
- 鈥渢he Chow line鈥� the Americans called it 鈥� and whilst idly chatting and thinking of the eggs and bacon , etc. to come I slowly but noticeably began to feel queasy and in not many minutes I began to feel sick . I left the queue in a great hurry and made my way back to my bunk . Yes , it was a bunk and not a hammock or the ships floor as apparently applied on most transport ships . I made it to 鈥渢he Heads鈥� ( Naval parlance for the toilets) where I was as sick as a dog 鈥� twice . Then very unsteadily I made my way to my bunk and fell into it , feeling very sorry for myself

Up to that point I had had no idea that I was a poor sailor. I had enjoyed the odd trip 鈥渞ound the lighthouse鈥� on small seaside leisure craft with no reaction , But this feeling was totally debilitating , I could not stand up without holding on to something and feeling sick, For the next 7-8 days I was permanently aware of the rolling and pitching of the ship . During that time I can only remember eating a couple of slices of dry bread and a few bites of an apple , which my mates brought to me from the mess deck . This violent reaction on my part was to a normal ocean sea which the majority of the others on the ship seemed to be able to cope . However , there was one night , somewhere in or near the Bay of Biscay ,when we had a storm and lots of men , including one or two sailors , were seasick . That was also the night of a submarine warning and the convoy had to steam off course to avoid them, I was then at my very lowest ebb and I vividly remember to this very day , praying for the torpedo to come right through my side of the ship and take me out of my indescribably miserable world and into the next !

A night or so later we passed through the Straits of Gibralter into the Mediterranean Sea where the sea was like a mill pond and the only waves were being made by our convoy. Amazingly, within an hour or so of experiencing these changed conditions I recovered completely - although very hungry .

A day or so later , on 6th December , we disembarked at Algiers . Apart from the evidence both on and off shore of the initial landings of about a month before , our disembarkation was uneventful , We soon learned however that we now had to march some 13-14 miles to a place called Cap Matifou where there was a holding camp where we could rest until posted on . There were no vehicles to transport us , they were needed for equipment , and we had to carry all our kit ,excluding kitbag, - but each of us did , at least and at long last have our own rifle-
mine was my first since joining the army some 5 months earlier!!

The march under quite hot Algerian sun was not suited to wearing U.K.winter uniforms and carrying all that kit and rifle , especially after about 10 days aboard a ship . After about half a dozen miles the column of reinforcements began to lose its discipline and became a shambles . All kinds of units from the convoy seemed to suffer equally, whether they were infantrymen , guardsmen , riflemen , etc. 鈥� many literally fell by the wayside . Drinks of water were handed out to the more distressed by the natives , mostly Arabs . In general , we did not have the appearance of a conquering army or even the reinforcements for a conquering army .

I do remember that our little Signals section stood up as well as any because we were one of the first to reach Cap Matifou , only to discover that it was hardly the camp that we had expected . It consisted of a number of Catering Corps mobile kitchens , some serving soup and others serving tea , in a large open field with tents (not erected) spaced around the open ground . We filled our mess tins , took some dry bread and managed a meal for which we were duly grateful 鈥� which was not easy with our recent memories of food on the U.S.S. Samuel Chase . We were told that if we wanted a tent to sleep in we had to erect it ourselves , which was not easy because that were the 8 man size and by now it was dark . So we spread a tent on the ground and about six of us crawled into it, using one side to lay on and the other as a communal blanket . We slept well until a very cold dawn woke us up.

Within a few days however , we were settled in under canvas on the beach at Cap Matifou . Daytime was comfortable , although when the wind blew the sand got into everything 鈥� including the food , which was mostly tinned corned beef and hard tack biscuits . We managed to soften the biscuits by soaking them overnight in a mixture of condensed milk and water and by heating this concoction in the morning it produced something that we called porridge 鈥� totally ridiculed by any Scot. Sleeping on the sandy beach had a considerable disadvantage because although the days were warm the nights were very cold and could strike like ice beneath you . In fact, we used to dress rather than undress at lights out , i.e. put on our uniform , then the greatcoat and then the oilskin type gas cape. This became the preferred means of keeping warm at night and although not sartorially attractive it was effective for its purpose

After a week or two on the beach our section was posted to the 15th Army Group H.Q. (British 1st and American 5th armies) just outside Algiers 鈥� I think it was called Beni Massous . Here we renewed our acquaintance with the Americans and between their Signal Corps and us we provided and serviced the communications requirements for both armies . It also enabled us , when on duty , to enjoy American forces food once more

Some months later , as a result of the defeat of the Germans in Tunisia , we took a 400 mile road journey 鈥� this time in our own vehicles with all our equipment 鈥� along the Algerian coast through Constantine , Bone and on to Tunis .
Here we operated the re-located 15th Army Group H.Q. during the preparation and build up to the invasion of Sicily , which took place in July .

One day our work was brought to a halt , in true Army fashion , with instructions to pack up all our equipment, etc. into our lorries and 鈥渉urry on down鈥� to Sousse , down south on the Tunisian coast , to catch a convoy to Sicily . We arrived in Sousse only to learn that the convoy could not wait any longer and had put to sea an our or two before . I think our officers got into trouble over that little hiatus , but it wasn鈥檛 passed on to us . I was not sorry because I had not been looking forward to another sea journey . The next day we were ordered back to Tunis on another 鈥渉urry up鈥� journey . A day or so after reaching Tunis and hanging around with nothing to do( but swim and sunbathe ) we were ordered to the Airfield , loaded onto a couple of American Air Force Dakotas and flown across the Med to Catania 鈥� my very first aeroplane flight 鈥� but that is another story . ( see Part 5)

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