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This story was submitted to the People's War site by a volunteer for CSVReading , Jim Grufferty,on behalf of John and Phyllis Chant of Salisbury and has been added to the site with their permission.

HITCHIKING DURING THE WAR

Because one had very little money, hitching a lift was a standard way of getting about or home on leave. With this you were either lucky or unlucky, and I consider myself to have been very lucky.

I was stationed in London at this time and got as far as Brentford on my way to Salisbury. A man pulled up in a car and asked where I wanted to go and I said anywhere along the A30. He said where exactly did you want to go and I said Salisbury, so he said jump in. He was going to the old Sarum airdrome and dropped me off at the bottom of the road and carried on to his destination two miles further on. I got home with just one lift all the way.

Another hitchhiking trip, I was based in Gloucestershire then and got my pass to come home but it was from nine in the evening. Although it was late I decided to give it a go thinking a lorry might pick me up. I teamed up with a lad from the RAF and walked all the way to Devizes and got to Marlborough, by then it was really dark. A policeman stopped us and asked where we going to and we said Salisbury. He said there will not be much traffic to get us there now, and said I know what to do I will lock you up in the cells for the night. We went in the cells, not sure if he locked the door or not, but it was fine and we were up next morning and got home.

My luckiest hitchhiking experience was when I was moved to Micheldever Station, just up the road, two days before D-Day. I asked the sergeant major could I go home for the night and back in the morning as I lived only twelve miles away. He said I can鈥檛 give you a pass but you can go. I got home about half past nine and there was an air force policeman waiting. He asked are you corporal Chant and I said yes, he said I had to return to my unit straight away. It was a case of giving my wife a kiss and say I must go. My father in law said sorry John but I can鈥檛 give you a lift back to Micheldever as he had very little petrol but would give me a lift out the road as far as the cemetery just on the outskirts of Salisbury. I said that鈥檚 fair enough I could walk the rest or get a lift no problem. I started to walk, walk, walk, and nobody at all stopped. Having reached the long hill that leads down into Stockbridge, I could hear this lorry coming and lots of singing. I pulled out my white handkerchief to flag it down and when it did not stop I called it all the names under the sun. It was an American lorry, went straight on. About 100 yards further on I heard a whirring sound up ahead and this lorry that had passed me had turned over completely with its wheels in the air still spinning which was the whirring sound I could hear. The driver had been thrown from the cab on his back and the passenger the other way. One had a broken leg and the other concussed. Here I was in the middle of the night, nobody about what was I do, but as luck would have it, two American 鈥渟nowballs鈥� they were known as with white caps, came up in a jeep and said not to worry they would take care of it. If a car stopped after that I would not have got in it and got back to the camp at 3 am. Next morning we were off. It was a really lucky escape..

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