大象传媒

This story was supplied to the People's War site by a volunteer on behalf of Mr Alberg and has been added to the site witrh his permission. Mr Alberg fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

My story dates back to April 1943. The last occasion when my whole family were together was during my seven day leave. For the first time we were united at home since the outbreak of war. My eldest brother, Johnny was in the Royal Artillery and the middle one, Buddy was in ther Rifle Brigade and I was in the RAF. Coincidentally, we were on leave at the same time....and the memory of those days are forever with me.

I was posted to Gibraltar and when not on duty, my time was spent reading, writing, swimming and rock-climbing! My radar duties consisted of searching for aircraft and shipping. During one spell on duty, I saw a large concentration of ships going through the Straits.

That same day a message was passed to me by the Controlling Officer which said: "Alberg, your brother has just arrived on the rock. You are free to leave your post." My brother? Why was he here? Which one of my brothers? I knew there was no Rifle Brigade on the Rock, so I assumed it was Johnny. I began to head towards the disembarkation point. I stood aimlessly waiting for what seemed like hours and then suddenly heard a voice from a watchtower way up high. The voice was shouting "Are you Frank Alberg?" I shouted in reply !"Yes". Thwe voice continued "Can you see that shipe anchored way down the pier...well your brother is on it!"

The pier was long and I walked for what seemed like ages but was in fact only a minute or two. As I approached I heard someone shouting: "Are you Frank? I'll get your brother..." Suddenly, Buddy appeared together with his C.O. Apparently, the ship was part of the convoy which I had seen earlier that day and was headed for North Africa. It had undergone a collison and had been diverted to Gibralter for repairs.

Buddy took me over to the ship and showed me where the sleeping quarters were. The sleeping conditions were awful, with men having to sleep on and under hammocks. we on the other hand had had much more civilised conditions - bunk beds.
I spent the rest of the day on board.

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