大象传媒

The Cruise.

I was twenty when I was called up in 1940, and I served as a private with the W/S Platoon, 215 Troop Carrying Company, R.A.S.C. throughout the war, until I was discharged in 1946. In 1942 we were stationed in a lovely place called Walkerburn on the Tweed, south of Edinburgh. One day we were taken in lorries to Edinburgh, put on a train to Greenock on the Clyde, and then taken straight off the train onto large ferries to a big ship called the 鈥淪tratheden鈥濃�� a 25,000 toner that belonged to the P and O line. There were about eight other ships the same size anchored in the Clyde.

We were all in full kit bags, large shoulder packs, small packs, webbing and rifles. We got on board and were told our deck was H hold which was eight decks down to the bottom of the boat. There were hundreds of hammocks strung up which were our beds.

We sailed down the Clyde that night, past the north of Ireland - nobody told us where we were going. We were surrounded by Royal Navy destroyers as we headed west into the Atlantic. We settled in somehow although we couldn鈥檛 get used to the hammocks. We kept falling out so we folded them up and used them as pillows while sleeping on iron decks, which were not very comfortable. We were detailed for guard duty 鈥� eighty men at a time on all the staircases in order to prevent panic if we were torpedoed. We therefore didn鈥檛 get much sleep.

The toilet on the ship was a big sluice like a twelve-inch gutter, water coming in from the top. I always sat at the top. If you were at the bottom some nut would light paper and float it down under all the bums! We sailed for nearly a week west, then nearly a week south, and finally east. We past the Azores, then the Straights of Gibraltar, which was blacked out at night, but Tangier was lit up.

We landed at Algiers after about three weeks at sea 鈥� it was far from a pleasure cruise, but you coped as best as possible at the time. We marched to a big zoological garden in Algiers, while our Lorries were being unloaded from the cargo boats. All we had were our iron rations, bully beef, and biscuits, dried milk and tea. We lit a fire and made a cuppa. Next night it started to rain and we got soaked. We cut down large big leaved plants with our knives and made a shelter. Afterwards we found out that there was no one to unload our Lorries. Several of the lads used to work at the London docks before the war and were used to cranes, 鈥� so we went to the docks and we unloaded the cargo ourselves 鈥� and it was still raining!

After four days we were ready for the road to Tunisia, which was three hundred miles away, to block Romell who had landed his troops from Italy. It was a hell of a drive across the foothills of the Atlas Mountains, but hair-raising at times. Several of the Lorries went off the road. Anyway, we got to our first stop in Tunisia, a little village called Souk el Arba. We hadn鈥檛 taken off our clothes off for over a month so we smelt a bit! There was a well in the village, so we all had a good wash, washed our clothes
and dried them in the sun. It was slow going as the Germans were pushing hard. By the time we reached our next village it was nearly Christmas. (The village was called Souk el Kemis.)

Christmas Day came and we were still on bully beef and biscuit. When we spotted six chickens roaming around, we decided they weren鈥檛 doing much for the war effort, so they were rounded up and dealt with 鈥� plucked, gutted and in the cook house in under an hour! We had chicken stew for Christmas dinner. The Arab was still looking for them when we left.

We had plenty to do 鈥� we had lots of lorries shot up and several of the drivers were killed. Lorries had to travel back from the front to workshops for repair. Finally Tunis fell. Churchill came over for the parade 鈥� he came by our bombed out house where we lived, we went onto the flat top roof and waved to him, and he turned round and waved back. The war was over out there. We finished up in a vineyard near Hammamet. I was getting letters from Joan, my wife, about which were about four months old, as she was expecting Michael, my son, and it wasn鈥檛 until May 1943 that I knew we had a boy. When I received the letter I ran round the barn to tell the lads, ran into the W/S officer and the MSM knocking them flying shouting 鈥淚t鈥檚 a boy!鈥� They congratulated me, so to wet the baby鈥檚 head we took our tin mugs and drained out the dregs from the wine vats.

It was very hot at times 鈥� 120 degrees in the shade. We were in shorts and shirts. It was so hot that we couldn鈥檛 work between 12 noon and 4 pm so we went in a lorry to the sea for a swim. Bill Burnett and I used to go on our motorbike to get black and white grapes for the lads when the Arab guard wasn鈥檛 looking. We had to queue up every evening to take our anti malaria tablets. While on guard at night, we had to rub cream on our faces and arms, wear nets over our steel helmets and gloves with long sleeves to cover our arms 鈥� and I still got bitten. I collapsed at the bench and came to in hospital a week later where I stayed for five weeks.

Back to the unit 鈥� after we were given a three-day shore leave in Tunis, we drew lots to decide who to go with out of the hut. I drew George Pichard from Sheffield. The first stop was a bar where we had Cherry brandies. That was it 鈥� I don鈥檛 remember a thing until three days later when they picked us up outside the NAFFI club in the gutter. I still don鈥檛 know where those three days went. We went home from Phillipville on an USA boat called the 鈥淭homas H. Barry鈥� by convoy back to the Clyde, then home for three weeks leave to see Michael, (my son,) who was ten months old. Then it started all over again getting ready for D Day. I have only remembered the good bits.

From Purfleet to Germany via France

Early in July 1944 I sailed with the 216 Troop Carrying Company from Purfleet on the Thames in a big American landing craft (I had turned 25 the previous month.) We stopped overnight off the Isle of Sheppey. I said to my mate Bob Prosser, (a big Scotsman from Aberdeen,) 鈥淚 live just over there in Rainham, Kent.鈥� Bob and I were both W/S platoon vehicle fitters. He was driving our 15 cwt. truck. All the vehicles had been water proofed to land in about two feet of water. We landed on Sword Beach the next day and were the first off the landing craft 鈥� what a feeling to land in France. The infantry were pushing up hard but we couldn鈥檛 move until we had space. We were on the move in early August. There was plenty going on 鈥� we used to pull in and get what cover we could. We slept anywhere 鈥� in the truck or underneath in the trenches dug by the infantry.

One day we drew into a field and parked round the edge of the field. Bob and I had finished work on a vehicle, had a bit to eat, and got our heads down in the back of the truck. This was about 10 pm, and into the field came one of our trucks 鈥� he put his lights on to get through the gate. At about 11 pm we heard a plane overhead, and then we heard the bombs. We flew out of the truck and saw that the plane had dropped parashoot bombs, which were coming our way. About 10 feet from the ground they all exploded so we dived under the truck. I lost my hat, then I felt blood running down my neck 鈥� I had been hit in the head, Bob had been hit in the ankle and hip, and lots of the other chaps had been hit. We all had treatment from our field dressing unit 鈥� I woke up in a hospital in Bayeux where I staid for about a month. I have never seen Bob since that night, but to this day I still have a small screwdriver, which I had borrowed from him that day 鈥� so this is for Bob Prosser.

When I got out of hospital at the end of September (1944) about one hundred of us were marched to the local railway station, where a train was waiting with closed cattle trucks. We were marched in front of it and the Sergeant said 鈥�25 in this truck and 25 in that truck鈥�. When it came to my turn the truck was a bit bigger, so I thought 鈥渢hat鈥檚 ok鈥� 鈥� but he said 鈥�25 in this half and 25 in the other half鈥� so we had fifty in our truck for the next three days. We travelled a few miles down the line and pulled into a siding at night where toilets and food were provided. Talk about sardines 鈥� we took it in turns to sit by the door and hang our legs out of the window! We finally caught up with my unit in northern France and crossed the Rhine on a Pontoon bridge built by the Royal Engineers on April 1st 1945. I was in northern Germany when the war ended. I was demobbed in June 1946 with 拢14 and a brown suit.

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