大象传媒

It all began on 1st. September 1939 at about
10am. I was l3years 4months old at the time and with my School Fulham Central for boys, we
set off in groups to Parsons Green Underground Station where we boarded a train which took us to Wimbledon Station (Southern Railway). The Platforms were full of School Children (boys and girls) also Soldiers saying goodbye to their wives and sweethearts. After a while the train arrived, masters and children all got on and away we went. Some while later we arrived a Haslemere Station on the Surrey/Sussex boarder and were all told to get off, this turned out to be the first mistake of the oncoming war, we should have gone to Woking, Haslemere residents were expecting girls, it was ten o'clock at night when I finally got a billeted a couple of miles out of town.
War was declared on the Sunday 3rd September 1939 while three of my School chums and I were building a log bridge over a stream in the garden of the house we were in. Then our much devalued wartime school life began, in London we had a Metalwork Centre, Woodwork Centre, Chemistry laboratory and Typing Centre. For the next couple of years it was very much hit and miss whether we could find somewhere to hold our lessons, most teachers were called up for the forces except a few who should have retired but carried on to help out.
During my stay in Haslemere we walked to many interesting places nearby, Gibbets Hill and the Devils Punch Bowl, Hindhead and Alfred Lord Tennyson's house on Blackdown, one of my many billets was the Town House in the High Street were the Highwaymen were imprisoned before being Hung on Gibbets Hill in 1786.
Then the war for me really started, it was early on a July morning around 7am in 1940, I was awoken to the sound of gunfire, looking out of the windows to find dog-fights taking place all over the sky, this was to be the start of a very exciting time for a couple months, very little lessons took place during this time because we spent a lot of time trying to find out where the planes had crashed or the airman had landed so that we could get souvenirs from them before the Home Guard or other officials got there. (We Won most of the time).
I had taken a paper round now with W.H. Smith's on Haslemere Station, getting there every morning at 6.30am making up my own papers and delivering them for several miles into the country arriving back just in time for School at 8.30am. This gave me 25p per week pocket mone, so every few weeks I was able to go home for a weekend, but whis was frowned on by the Headmaster, guite right really because it meant I saw several nights of the blitz in London.

I finished school in May 1942 at the age of sixteen, Central schools had employment bureau's in the City of London and I got an office job doing statistical work.
When the war first started everybody said it would be over by the first Christmas, so I wouldn't have to join up, but my Service days were getting nearer, but I started work in an office near Mansion House in the City of London, it was nine to five and travelled by the underground to get there. The bombing of London had all but stopped now, we did occsionally get some bombs at night but hardly any during daytime.
A new Air-Training Corp. Squadron was formed near where I lived and with a couple of friends we joined, our Squadron H.Q. was a local School, we attended three evenings a week (6.30pm to 9.30pm) and studied wireless, morse code, air navigation and drill (without riffles) some weekends were spent flying and doing practical work, most of the flying was with Air Ferry aircraft from the factories to the R.A.F. Squadrons.
I used to go a lot to White Waltham near Maidenhead. This was Ferry Command H.Q. from here I flew all over Southern England in such aircraft as the Wellington Bomber (Wimpy) 2 engines, Stirling Bomber(4 engines) Avro Anson (2 engines) Airspeed Oxford (2 engines).
During this time I was getting quite professional at Wireless Operating which was to help me later on, weekends we were kept busy Drilling and after a few months I was made a Sargeant.
In August 1943 at the age of 17 1/4 Yrs. I volunteered for the R.A.F. After taking several exams and having a medical I was placed on the reserved list, normally I would not have entered into the Service proper until 18yrs. of age but in the November I received a letter from the R.A.F. aking me with my parents permission whether I would join straight away. So at 17 1/2yrs of age.
I was in, AC2 Pell W/OP (in training).

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