大象传媒

. (To be com]ntinued).In May 1941, at the age of 17, we were living in Premier Street Liverpool and were in a cellar when a land mine struck demolishing the whole area. We were lucky to survive because the cellar was a in house further down the street from our own and had been reinfored by the Council to withstand the effects of a near miss. I along with a neigbour who happed to be a Red Cross Commandant went out to see what we could do in the way of help and were totally disoriented as the whole ares was flat and no indication that houses had been there. We managed to help several people out of the rubble, One childx I rememmber was rescued due to her muffled cries and we searched calling for her to push her hands or legs up if she could and suddenly we say a hand appearing out of the mass of wreckage. We were able to pull her out non the worse for her having been buried. From there we were then left to find our way to another friends in Anfield and we spent the nights of the next week in the Street Shelter. From there we went to another friends house in Huyton which was a comparatively safe area which had not been touched by the bombing, later being rehoused by the Council in Muirhead Avenue. At this time the main news which was on everyones lips in the morning at work, was how did you go on last night, and then find out where the damage had been done.

The next episode in my life was the registration for National Service with the first of the 18s
I was called up in Febtuary 1942 And reported to Squires Gate Camp in Blackpool, which was a peace time holiday camp taken over by when I arrived by the East Lancashire Regiment. I remained here for 8 weeks infantry training, completing a firing course at the rifle range and after being chosen to also taking part in a War Weapons Week parade in St. Annes which entailed marching to the marshalling point in the town and being infantry marching back along the road to the camp headed by the East Lancs. Band, whilst all other units of the services were passing in buses, such wazs the lot of the PBI. These weeks were organised to boost the public moral and to collect for the War effort. At the conclusion of training which included aptitude tests we were sperated out and posted to various units.

I along with a number of others to make up a platoon were posted to the Sussex Regiment in Chichester being met at the station by the Regimental band and marched to the barracks. From here we were billeted in the Theological College in the town. Life here consisted of duties and fatigues with very little spare time to spend on anything else. After several weeks we left Chichester marching to Arundel Castle to stay in the Castle as "guests" of the Duke of Noefolk. This was purely a waiting period whilst space became available at our eventual destination at the Royal Signals at Trowbridge which was the training unit for the Y service a highly secret section of the Signals at this time.