大象传媒

This story was added to the site by Helen Hughes of the People's War team in Wales, on behalf of Sid Shorten. It is added with his permission. The story of his war years and with his wife Jean has been divided into chapters.

Tuesday 5th. March 1940
The day was bitterly cold with frozen snow and ice on the roads and pavements; for almost 3 weeks now the cold spell had lasted with no sign of a thaw. My orders were to report at the rollerdrome in Cattle Market Street by 10am. After a brief medical check we were issued with uniforms, webbing and the rest of our kit except for rifles and bayonets. The uniforms were issued by looking and saying you look like a size 10 or 12 or 16 whatever he thought might fit. About midday we were told to go out side and climb aboard the commandeered vans to go to the Nelson Barracks for a meal and be allotted to our units. One recruit said 鈥渨e鈥檙e getting our last supper at midday鈥�. The van I boarded was a Dennis furniture van and by a coincidence it was from Dennis we bought our first furniture over six years later.
After the meal we were assembled in the gymnasium to be allocated to our respective units; my unit was the 556th. Field Company, Royal Engineers, 42nd. Division. Later in the roll call my name was called again for the 288th. Company but the officer said to stay where I was. This was my first piece of good luck, the 288th. was part of the 18th. Division who in 1942 were sent at first to the Middle East via South Africa but on reaching the Indian Ocean were diverted to Singapore arriving just in time to be taken prisoner by the Japs. Many of them died on the Burma Railway. After being allocated to our units we reboarded the transport and set off to the wilds of Suffolk at Poslingford.

POSLINGFORD camp 1
5th March 1940 to 5th May 1940
Poslingford was a tiny gathering of mainly farm cottages, H.Q. was at Poslingford House, this was where we did our arms drill and marching on the driveway but mainly on the road outside the entrance gates. The cookhouse and mess hall were here; pigsties had been cleaned out for a cookhouse and the large barn at the side was the mess hall. Stansfield was the next village the nearest place with shop and Post Office was Clare 6 miles away, the nearest town was Bury St. Edmunds at 14 miles. Our billets were in the empty farm cottages spread around the fields up to a mile or so from the HQ. With the freezing cold the first priority was fuel for fires; fortunately the thaw set in by the following week but those cottages were still mighty cold.
The first 6 weeks were spent on basic training, marching in step and arms drill, we had been given 1912 Ross Rifles saved from the Great War. After a passing out parade in front of the Colonel and other Officers we were given 7 days leave. Returning from leave we started on the next part of R.E. training, laying and lifting mines preparing explosive charges etc. One exercise was to bring down a tree with a guncotton charge when all was prepared I got the job of fixing the fuse and primer and lighting it, the officer was there watching. The fuse was lit it had a 2 minute delay for us to join the others under cover. After 2 mins.and nothing happened we had to wait 20 minutes before going to check, it was thought of course I had not got it right but on going to check we found it was a faulty piece of fuse, it was replaced and lit and down came the tree.
We had one character in our group; he could neither read nor write and had worked on the same farm since finishing school assuming he actually went one of our chaps was a teacher and took on the task of teaching him; he was keen to learn, his girl friend was the farmers daughter whom he eventually married. It could have been the letters his teacher wrote for him. A notice went up inviting us to sign on for 7 years service we all said no way accept for the learner, he signed up and had the last laugh we did over 6 years and got a small bounty at the end, he did 7 years and got 5 years reserve payments. On May 5th. we moved to our first bridging camp at Wallingford in Berkshire.

WALLINGFORD camp 2
May 5th 1940 to June 7th 1940

Wallingford on Thames was a small town where a bridging camp had been established in the grounds of Howbery Hall; the whole company were under canvas in the large grounds which extended down to the river. Here we were instructed in building various types of bridges using pontoons, rafts and other types, the Bailey bridge had not then become available. I managed to have a couple of accidents the first was slipping and falling in the river I made a quick grab at the side of the pontoon so I was only up to my waist but because of the high Wellingtons we had to wear I could not pull myself out, two of my mates grabbed my arms and pulled me back on board; the second one was when a section slipped and split my little finger this needed medical attention. Later on the wearing of rubber boots was dropped, perhaps our Officers report had some bearing on the decision. The only time we saw the town was on Sundays for the church parade when the full company marched to the church in the town centre. We enjoyed the bridging the weather was warm and sunny; on our last day we had rowing races using the pontoons, it was free and easy day after some quite hard work. The next move was to Morpeth in Northumberland.

MORPETH camp 3
June 7th.1940 to June 18th. 1940

We moved by rail to Morpeth a town a little larger than Wallingford a few miles north of Newcastle. The company were under canvas on the quite large common, at the beginning we were confined to camp on standby for embarkation to France. The Dunkirk evacuation changed the orders and we started on defence work around the town. The weather was almost tropical, while trench digging I got a touch of sunstroke and needed a couple of days off work. I did wonder later on whether it was the start of the vaccine fever that developed a week or so later. During the second week we received proper army transport vehicles in time for our next move to Whitley Bay.

WHITLEY BAY camp 4
Tuesday June 18, 1940 to Wednesday June 26, 1940

A small seaside resort a few miles north of Tynemouth; the esplanade was quickly spoiled by our building of antitank blocks and the sinking of bore holes for demolition charges. The second day there I passed out when using a hydraulic drill on the concrete front; the Medical Officer had me sent back to the billet and put to bed he reported it as vaccine fever my temperature was very high and for two days and nights I had somebody in attendance incase I got worse. Our billets were evacuated boarding houses just off the seafront, by the 25th. I was passed as fit for duty again just in time for our next move to Rock in Northumberland.

ROCK camp 5
Wednesday June 26, 1940 to Wednesday August 14, 1940
A hamlet of about 12 houses plus Rock Hall which was used as company HQ. We were in tents in the grounds while the Officers were in the Hall; with the hot weather I think we were possibly more comfortable. The nearest shop and post office was at Rennington a village about a mile away, this was kept by Mrs. Dunne and she with the other villagers went out of their way to help us. On two occasions thunder storms flooded out our tents; our work here was coastal defences, building pill boxes and gun emplacements, some were built with shuttering and poured concrete others with concrete filled sand bags, and I learned some of the basics of bricklaying during this time. Our platoon worked mainly in Newton Bay and Embleton the others were at Howick and Seahouses. Each day we had to stack our rifles in the approved way within easy reach in case of emergency but we had no ammunition likewise the platoon Lewis machine gun had to be mounted on it鈥檚 tripod with no ammunition.
Chillingham Castle camp 6
Wednesday July 31, 1940
We were moved to Chillingham Castle on the Northumberland moors seemingly miles from anywhere. The castle was one of the homes of the Duke of Northumberland (the PERCY family). It was an eerie feeling place made more so by the herd of white oxen that roamed around the grounds. It was said a previous unit had started a fire in order to get away. The rumour was we were there to assess the place as a likely winter quarters; fortunately the CO felt like everyone else and he rejected it as unsuitable. We returned to Rock the following day and carried on with the anti-invasion work. The next move was to Lowick on Tweed.

LOWICK on TWEED camp 7 Wednesday August 14,1940 to Monday October 21,1940

Headquarters were based in Barmoor House; the other three platoons were still in tents in the grounds, it was still defence building work both on the roads and along the coast. We now handed in our Ross rifles thinking we were getting something more up to date, we were issued with 1914 Lee Enfield rifles and these remained as our arms until after the war ended. There was ammunition now in the quartermasters store, we also had an antitank rifle this fired a half inch bullet, it was about 6 feet long and to fire it they put two sand bags against each foot to resist the kick back. We did a course of booby trap bomb making and it was followed by a visit from the Brigadier, two of us rigged up a very effective gate trap which impressed the Brigadier and as a result our lance corporal got a second stripe although he had no part in the trap making but he was a good talker. Apart from trips into Berwick our main pastime was stripping and assembling the Lewis gun at which we became very proficient.
After a night on guard duty I stopped to show a cook how to cut a hindquarter round of beef into roasting joints, unbeknown to me the adjutant was nearby watching, I had a request in for an engine artificer鈥檚 course which he changed to a cook鈥檚 course. The next day I was transferred to HQ platoon from number 1 platoon to start to learn cooking. One benefit was moving into the house. My next leave was due at the end of September coinciding with my 21st. birthday but on the 18th. all leave was suspended as the German invasion was thought to be imminent. That night with two pals we went to the local pub and got drunk we were helped back to the billet but next day I felt awful and stayed in bed the corporal cook covered for me. It was my first booze up and the last. A couple of days later there was a notice up for glider pilot volunteers three of us put our names in but the CO rejected our requests on the grounds he did not want to disrupt the company when we were under standby for the possible invasion. Lowick is about 10 miles from Berwick and a truck used to go most evenings for the cinema and dances. I went into town a few times to see the town and go to the cinema, the dances were not for me I had never been to one and would have been too shy to approach a girl for a dance even if I knew how to dance. By the third week of October the nights were getting cold and frosty for those under canvas so every one was pleased to learn we were on the move once again to Prudhoe, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

PRUDHOE camp 8
Monday October 21, 1940 to Friday March 28, 1941

Prudhoe was a small mining town 10 miles east of Newcastle on the Hexham road. Within a few days I was given my delayed leave and went home to Norwich; while there I chanced to meet Elsie Brown the girl friend of Joe Eastman, a pal from the days at Caley鈥檚; she told me he was missing in Crete, I never learned how he got on as I lost touch with all my friends in Norwich over the years. Elsie asked if I would be her escort at her cousins wedding that weekend I agreed and saw her a couple more times during my leave; we lost touch after I got engaged to Jean.
The Saturday after I got back from leave I was walking along Front Street with a friend when we heard the sound of a fair ground coming from behind the Dr. Syntax pub so went to have a look, there was a circus big top erected and inside fun fair stalls and a Carousel in the centre. We went up to the round-about and saw two girls on their own so we went on and spoke to them, we walked around stalls with them and they then said it was time for them to get home; that was the start of a 62 year date. Alec went with Freda while I walked home with Jean to East View past the Nissen Huts where we were billeted.

This was Saturday 9th. November 1940. This was the first time I had gone up to a girl and chattered I am sure it must have been preordained. We arranged to meet again next day and we saw each other when ever I could get away from then onwards, it took until the following Friday before I kissed her goodnight but I am sure I knew then she was the one for me, I believe she felt the same way for on Wednesday 18th. December when I proposed she said yes straight away. We had to get approval from her parents as she was under 21years but that was no problem as I got along fine with them both. The following weeks we walked to Wylam and by bus to Clara Vale and Crawcrook to visit relations. To us the war was forgotten we were so much in love.
On Monday 13th. January I was told I had to go to Chester le Street on a cook鈥檚 course

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