大象传媒

This description of my life in the Army will of course have to be only very brief. It is not going to be an account on the lines 鈥淚 was there鈥� or 鈥淚t sure was hell鈥�. It is more likely to be on the lines 鈥淒id you fight in the last War Daddy鈥� 鈥� 鈥淵es. Son, but if had to go in the end鈥�. I did experience the hardships that are associated with War, being away from home; undergoing shellfire and seeing others die.

But the object is to try and give some idea of the lighter side.

I joined the Army in January 1942, by going to Redford Barracks in Edinburgh, the home of the Signal Training Regiment, where I learned among other things the Morse Code by Buzzer and also Lamp. In addition all about telephone cable laying and Wireless operation and procedures. It was very strange at first, trying on uniforms and learning discipline, coupled with marching and rifle drill. Talking about the uniform reminds me that one of the new recruits who joined with me tried on his battledress blouse, trousers, cap and boots and was then asked if there was anything wrong with them. When he told the Quartermaster Sergeant that everything fitted perfectly, the Quartermaster replied, 鈥渓ummy, you must be deformed鈥�.

One of the delights of the barracks was the N.A.A.F.I. where I spent a lot of spare time enjoying char and wads, that means tea and cakes. By the way NAAFI tea is just hot water browned off. The other luxury was the baths of which we were able to have plenty. On one occasion, however, I was lying peacefully in a hot bath when I heard female voices outside asking how long I was likely to be. You can imagine how I felt when I realised that I had forgotten what day it was, and that on this particular day in the week, the ATS and female NAAFI staff had their baths.

After four weeks of marching and rifle drill we took a four weeks course on driving motor vehicles, followed by one week learning all about motorcycles. Which I quite enjoyed, but was not very thrilled with the theoretical side. It was surprising that with one or two driving instructors I could not do a thing right, but with others I was excellent. You know they say that many accidents are caused by the nut that holds the steering wheel. I had two lucky escapes. On one occasion while driving back from a lesson along a narrow road, another vehicle was approaching, and the instructor said put your foot on the brake, but by mistake I put it on the clutch, and we shot forward at a terrific rate just managing to escape between the oncoming vehicle and a telegraph pole. Then to prove my ability as a driver, on another occasion while driving along an exceedingly wide road, after a similar vehicle to ours had passed we noticed that there was a sight dent in the side which wasn鈥檛 there before.

Then came the week on Motorcycles. As usual I clicked for an excellent machine, and for the first two days while the others were merrily riding the barrack square, I was busily trying to get the perishing thing to start. However, the week ended with a long distance run to some nearby seaside place. I managed quite well, but my career as a soldier nearly came to an untimely end. While sailing gaily round a corner at about fifty I turned round to admire two of the local beauties and then found myself on top of a grass bank. Luckily I survived, but have not touched a motorcycle since.

At last came seven weeks learning all about my job for the future 鈥� Signalling. Not with the Signal Corps, but to be attached in time to an Artillery regiment. It was very interesting learning the Morse Code, how to send and receive, reading Morse Code sent out on the playing fields by lamp, and how to use the various wireless sets belonging to the Army. It was during this course that I went home on my first seven days leave.

After the course had ended, and I had passed, four of us were posted to Ballater, where the Queen finished her train journey when going to Balmoral. Here we joined our first Unit, a twenty-five pounder regiment. It was pleasant on the first day as the Regiment was out on a trial shoot and would not be back until the following day. My friend and I were given the job of cleaning the big food and tea containers, but unfortunately we tried to clean the actual burner itself.

We settled down quite happily and spent quite some spare time playing golf on the very delightful course. The scenery was quite pleasant and a river ran right by the Invercauld Arms, the hotel at which we were billeted. It was while with this Regiment that I experienced my first visit to an Artillery Firing Range. This was situated in Northumberland and was merely a tented camp in the hills. Very desolate and the only impression I have is that it rained all the time. On the way there, however, I did enjoy my first night out in the open, lying on moss underneath trees, and found it very pleasant.

Shortly after returning to Ballater, however, I had the very sad news that I was being transferred to another regiment and I had to leave behind one of my first army pals. This was an experience I went through several times while I was in the forces.

My new Unit, much nearer home, was the 5th Medium Regiment, which was divided into two Batteries. 20/21 Battery was at Beeston Castle and 15/17 Battery, to which I went, was at Tattenhall in between Crewe and Chester. I was assigned to 鈥楤鈥� Troop and began to settle down with new comrades. Apart from guard duties I had to take my turn at being Switchboard Operator. We spend most of our time in going on what were called Schemes. This entailed going out in the vehicles with the guns into the neighbouring countryside, taking up gun positions, laying cable and in fact practising for the real thing.

The Battery Captain was named Cook, but very different to the original Captain Cook. One day the Troop was ready to go out on a scheme and Captain Cook who was leading gave the order 鈥淢ount鈥�. The procession then set off very carefully out of the gate, turned left, continued to turn left until Captain Cook skilfully brought them back to the camp again. This manoeuvre was carried out three times until he finally managed to get away from the precincts of the camp.

I enjoyed several leaves from here, and there was plenty of entertainment at Chester, which was quite easily reached if one caught the bus in time. One night I missed it but was very fortunate to get a lift on the back of a tandem. When we finally reached the town centre after a record-breaking run, I couldn鈥檛 straighten up for a bit, so I went to the pictures and got in for half-price.

One of the highlights was another was another firing range exercise, which this time was at Sennybridge in South Wales, a much more pleasant place and one which I quite enjoyed. On the first journey there however we turned back just the other side of Welshpool, and rumour had it that we were bound for abroad. The secret nature of our turning back was confirmed by the local inhabitants who said that we were supposed to be going abroad but that it had been cancelled. However, it wasn鈥檛 long after our return from the exercises at Sennybridge that we did leave for abroad. Once again the inhabitants told us that we were going to North Africa as first reserves for the 1st Army.

We sailed up the Clyde on the morning of the 26th December 1942, my Mother鈥檚 birthday. We had embarked three or four days before and had got quite used to the feel of the ship while it was motionless. On the morning of the 26th when I awoke, I immediately sensed something and rushed on to the deck and began to feed the fishes. For two days and nights I remained on deck lying on some old sacking and going short distances to the rails. There is an old saying that if you have any good in you the sea will bring it out. I can now confirm the truth of that saying.

Eventually I recovered and tried a remedy passed on to me by someone and moved my quarters to the middle of the ship where I felt less movement and towards the end of my journey I was beginning to feel like a real sailor. Life became very pleasant and one of my most happy memories was of the evenings when the nights were clear, standing on deck watching the phosphorous in the water. I was very sorry when one afternoon we arrived at Algiers and made preparation to land.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.