大象传媒

This story has been added to the People's war website by Marie on behalf of Peter Hurst. Peter has given his permission and understands the site's terms and conditions.

Having unfortunately lost both my parents by the time I was seven years old, I found myself at the age of nine in the Duke of York鈥檚 Royal Military School in Dover. The School was run on military lines and the school itself had been founded by the then Duke of York in 1803 for orphans of deceased Army personnel. Although the circumstances which led me to the school at the beginning of 1933 were somewhat heartrending, I found myself fortunate to attend the school as it taught the boys so much, particularly how to look after yourself.

At the age of fifteen, most of the boys joined the Army, and I myself joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers in December 1938. I was to become on of the 鈥淏oy Soldiers鈥� and on the outbreak of WW2 we were sent to our depot in Wrexham, North Wales.

The reason for this introduction is because it is relevant to the main part of my story. After serving in North West Europe in 1944/45, I returned to the UK later in 1945 and as I still had some years to go before the end of my regular service, I found myself put on the draft for the 鈥淎rmy of Occupation of Japan鈥�. I was still a member of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, and with an English and a Scottish Regiment, we formed the British Brigade of the Occupying Army.

Our first posting in Japan was an island in the far south, but after a while we were moved on to the mainland near Hiro. It was at this stage that I found myself in hospital for a few weeks. On being discharged I was told that my regiment had been sent to Tokio for their turn to carry out guard duties there. Following enquiries I was told to find the rearguard who would make the arrangements for me to travel to Tokio. I was consequently told that the British troops had to use one carriage which was coupled to the rear of a Japanese train, and with a little bit of luck I would arrive in Tokio some three days later.

Whilst sitting in the room waiting for my boarding pass, a major came into the room and asked what I was doing there. He suddenly said to me (right out of the blue) 鈥渉ave you got any Dukies in your set-up?鈥� (I should say here that Dukies was the name allotted to the Duke of York鈥檚 Schoolboys) 鈥淗ow strange鈥� I answered him 鈥淚鈥檓 an ex-Dukie myself!鈥� To this day I cannot explain what must have been the reason for this question to be asked. But it turned out that I had joined the School not long before he left. I did remember him as he was Chief School Prefect, and a fine athlete. He then asked me if he had heard me say I had to get to Tokio, and when I said that was right, he asked me to stay where I was until he returned. About thirty minutes later he came back and told me that he had got a sleeping berth on the American Express for me and the train would leave at midnight from Kure station, and would arrive in Tokio at seven o鈥檆lock in the evening.

I have never had a train journey like that one! I was escorted to my sleeping berth, and in the morning I was taken to the restaurant car for breakfast, and later for lunch and dinner; arriving in Tokio exactly on time. When I told my colleagues how I had got there, they thought I was pulling their leg! Even to this day, some probably still think that!

I always had a lot to thank the Duke of York鈥檚 Military School for - the way they helped bring me up - and how nice that even in Japan , I was still being looked after them in the Army.

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