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We’d been expecting the war. We’d watched ships getting ready in the Port of Blyth. I volunteered for the RAF in 1941. I thought it would be less dangerous than being on the front line. They needed 25 bricklayers, I was single and I had to go. I was in India for 3 years in the Delhi HQ with the Indian Air Force.

It took 3 months to get from England to India. We got chased by submarines just off Freetown and had to go back into harbour. Submarines could bring down Merchant Navy ships very quickly. On the way back it only took 14 days.

Germans were very good at making machinery. Before the war Britain didn’t have much. The Spitfire changed things.

When we first got to India we got an English breakfast with a hard-boiled egg. Food was short and English food was shipped across. We got a living allowance from the Indian government.

I can remember stepping on the pavement in India — my feet were red hot. The Red Caps would look after us particularly when we were going into town looking for girls.

When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour we thought the war was going to be on for a long while. A lot of my mates got sent to Singapore after India. But then the atom bomb was dropped. It was bad but how many people did it save? When America came in, it was much needed.

I don’t think young people today could handle what we went through.

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