大象传媒

'I joined the Royal Signals in Manchester on 6th September 1939 and went to France in October. There I joined the 2nd Air Formation Signals at Bouzy-aur-Marne.The unit was responsible for all grounds communication for the airfields in France. The headquarters of th R.A.F. was the Advance Striking Force(codename Panther) at Rhiems. The telephone number was Bouzy 43.
The unit consisted of six sections of sixty mainly from the G.P.O. in London-sixty from Manchester and sixty from Glossop.
The unit was housed in the compounds of Moets Chandon and our company office was above the grape presses. Opposite our gate was the compound of Veuve Cliquet and there were several other companies in the village. Champagne was 9d a bottle.
In the middle of May 1940 the Germans broke through at Sedan thus threatening Rhiems. We lost communication with the A.A.F.at Rhiems so the Major sent a party to find out what was happening. We found that the RAF had scapered. We got the Operations clock as a souvenier, a dozen brand new Dodge trucks ( our transport consisted of a Baker's van, coal lorries etc. brought over from England), a dozen Lewis guns and all the ammunition and all the petrol we could carry.
In the next 24 hours the roads were thick with refugees from the Ardennes as they reached our village we pulled out. Most of the unit were absent, away on airfields, as far away as Metz, Verdun, Nancy around the north at Amiens and Arrus but we got the H.Q. company (me included) 14 Line Section (Glossop) 15 Line Section Section (Manchester) and a Line Section from London.
We tried Colommiers, no joy there, and we tried at the airport at Romilly. There was a reception there-German bombers. Then we went to Troyes, Sens, Orleans, LeMans then Bloid and in June we dumped Signals stores in the Loire. Sometime after June 10th we watched the evacuation of Paris, watched a French Armoured Division going, so they said, to oppose the Italians who had come into the war. Sometime after this we met French troops who told us about Dunkirk, how they had been evacuated to England re-fitted and landed back in France. They had been equipped with U.S. uniforms and rifles.
About this time (remembering that we had no rations for several weeks except what we had scrounged) the Major, he was Australian, told us it was every man for himself and he was making for St.Nazaire. Rumours around the French population told us that the French were about to give in.
We arrived at St.Nazaire about 16th June and tried to get some food from the shops. The people were very antagonistic and I pointed my rifle at a shopkeeper before he would sell me some food.
Reaching the port we were told to park our vehicles in a portion of the beach where there were hundreds of vehicles, field guns etc. We wanted to set fire to ours but the military in charge forbade it.
I wandered around the beach all day and as nightfall approached I met a girl, aBelgian refugee who told of a house where I could sleep on the floor. I went there and there were 28 women, all refugees, living there. Next morning I went back to the beach again. Eventually I heard a voice calling 'Vilfred' (that's how she said my name). She gave me a slice of bread with marmalade on it.
Sometime during the day (17th June) we had assembled together and small boats (manned by the Navy I believe) started to ferry us out to the troop ship 'Lancastria' about a 20,000 ton Liner offshore.
We got most of the Glossop boys off (on?) and a German bomber appeared. He made a bombing run over the ship then the ship went up in flames. I estimate there were about 5,000 men on board.
Things got foggy about my recollections then. I remember going on a 'button boat' down by the harbour when I had room to sit down on deck. All through the night we were machine gunned and we replied by setting the Lewis guns we had carried all the way from Rhiems. We had an old Sgt.Major from the First World War who had taught us to fire them.
During this time survivors from the 'Lancastria', some badly burned and all thick with oil had been arriving. Next day we set sail and somewhere at sea the alarm was given. Out of the mist appeared ships, battleships, cruisers, destroyers etc. With an aircraft carrrier in tow. I believe this was the 'Cardinal Richlieau'. I believe the remnants of the French Navy fleeing Brest bound for Dakar.
Eventually we arrived at Plymouth with a band playing on the Hoe. We disembarked and spent most of the day on the quayside eating 'bully' sandwiches and drinking tea provided by the Sally Ann and the W.V.S.
We were put on a train which went along the holiday beaches with the holidaymakers waving at us. We stopped at Bordon where we went to the Barracks, got cleaned up( I hadn't washed or taken my clothes off for a month). Eventually I went to Hendon aerodrome and stayed in London through the Blitz until 1941 (about August)I was posted to Aldershot'

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