• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

National Service

lencops said:
Housewife not a female commonly called a "hussiff", your Mom was not with you to sew a button on!!. Len.
Click to expand...
That looks an higher class 'housewife' than the one I was issued with. I also remember how NCO's could always spot a speck of dust down a rifle barrel even though I'd spent a fair part of 'bull night' cleaning it.
oldmohawk:)
 
Our SM said when he complained about my boots and I told him they were my second best pair. 'These are my 3rd best' and they were like glass and we were only on a work party
 
oldMowhawk, This housewife is the same as the one i was issued with in 1947 with plastic buttons, i also had plastic cap badge, metal was used for more important uses. Len.
 
It looks like what most of us remember,is the comedy of it all,I did start a thread "Humour in Uniform",and expected some great daft stories...but no one responded.:(
The vindictivness of the authoritys was a big downside.
The bloke on the right in this photo.was persecuted by them,his crime was being in love.
On embarcation leave he ran off to Jersey and got married (they couldn't touch him there) stayed,5 years, later the he was offered an amnesty if he returned.On his return they renaged and gave him the max.sentence in Colchester, 2 years.And then took him straight from there to Newton Abbot and sent to finish is service in the canal zone.All this time he was never allowed to see his wife and child.
 
I missed that thread Ray probably because it's in the Army Section and I was in the 'brylcreem' mob. I've just found it and had a chuckle at the two posts.
Yes I suppose we do tend to remember the comedy side of National Service. Discipline was tough but in those times they picked on a few individuals as examples of what could happen if you didn't obey. These day's 'Human Rights' etc would be cited.
One bit of 'discipline' happened to me when I failed to salute an officer. I was sent to work in the cookhouse for a day and learnt how to make bread & butter pud.
The cook threw a slab of butter to block the plughole of of a non too clean sink so that the other ingredients he tipped in would not leak away, and told me to stir it making sure I didn't disturb the plug. I didn't eat bread & butter pud after that.
Also did others have an Officer come round at mealtimes asking what you thought of the food, and because the Station Warrant Officer (SM) stood stern faced behind him, you said it was excellent.:)
 
I did 6 weeks in the cookhouse at the RA Brks, Immingham Dock near Grimsby, 1947, prior to going on a trade course my job was to help out were the Sgt/Cook told me to, i did not have to do any cleaning of the cooking ranges but he showed me how to mash the spuds, there was a large electric powered mixer in which i put the peeled spuds (peeled by the fire piquet the night before), poured in 4 cans of Carnation Milk & 6 half pound packets of margarine with salt to my taste, switched on until it was creamy with no lumps, taken out and put into dixies and served up to my mates at dinner time (midday) i was complimented on rare occasions!!!, the RSM would make surprise visits and all the cooks were checked for clean hands & nails, wearing clean whites and general appearance if they did not pass he would put them on a charge surprisingly he never inspected me, i had my food with the cooks and was warned not to tell any of the other Gunners what i had!. Len.
 
Hi len sorry to here you lost your best friend.i was stationed at Saighton camp in 1953 for my training.
went to Chester for a day last year .went to have a look to Saighton camp to see if it was still used
it was still there but all closed up.do you live in Acocks Green
regards. astonian.
 
Richard, I live in Sheldon now but was was born close to the Swan island so i know Acocks Green & Hay Mills very well, thank you for kind remark about my friend its been many years since his death, we went to Church Rd School now called Yardley Primary School. Len.
 
When did national service (conscription i mean ) stop my brother was in the army but he volunteered, i think he missed it by a couple of years but not sure when it ended
 
That is a great photo Alf, that is the kind of daftness I remember the most.
Whatever would the R.S.M.have to say about it,I wonder,posing in such a fashion.:D
The day I was demobed,the R.S.M.refused to sign my release form,because I was wearing a pink shirt,so I had a strop, took it off and threw it on the floor,he still refused to sign,called the guard and had me marched out,still with no shirt on,the adjutant heard all the shouting going on, and to calm us down, he signed my release form...it was the only time I got one up on a R.S.M....the last day.:)
 
My apprenticship finished June 1961 I was not required, My friend's finished in Feb 1961 he was required
 
Elizabeth,
The end was a bit loose, one of my cousins born 5th.Nov 1940 was the first 3 month intake not to be called up,so that would make it 1958.
However, they still took a few more untill 1960,I think they got pickey,and only took who was useful to them.
I had a tooth out just before demob,and the dentist who pulled it was National Serviceman,who held a high rank,so I suppose if they needed someone of his skill they called them up.:rolleyes:
 
They would cope just as well as we did Elizabeth,but my opinion is they should never have to.
We have a professional,army that is the best,why change anything.
Have a look at the photo's and the posts on this thread and you will find our thinking was no different then, than the youngsters of today.
Perhaps we were better equipped to handle it, we grew up during the war,and then austerity,so a spartan or sometimes harsh life was a lot easier for us.

Anyway what about the girls ? should they do it as well,whoopeee that would have been fun:):):)
 
Ray Barrett said:
That is a great photo Alf, that is the kind of daftness I remember the most.
Whatever would the R.S.M.have to say about it,I wonder,posing in such a fashion.:D
The day I was demobed,the R.S.M.refused to sign my release form,because I was wearing a pink shirt,so I had a strop, took it off and threw it on the floor,he still refused to sign,called the guard and had me marched out,still with no shirt on,the adjutant heard all the shouting going on, and to calm us down, he signed my release form...it was the only time I got one up on a R.S.M....the last day.:)
Click to expand...
I had the same trouble I with 2 of my mates who where travelling home with me decided to wear civvies and were all sent back to change, he still got me I had been excused boots at one time and he had this on my paper and sent me to the MO get my paper signed as well.
 
Last edited:
You are right nick,I was a lineman P.L. once I settled in a work unit it was an interesting job,always on the move, wherever the job took us,I just had difficulty with the discipline.There were never more than 10 of us,with a 3 ton truck,a landrover and a motorbike,more like nomadic hippys than soldiers.:rolleyes:
 
Nick,
What was the name of the radio ops.training camp in Catterick? I have forgotten:rolleyes:.
Elizabeth,
Yes some great memories..but others were not so great:(.The pretty girl was my squeeze at the time... and still is,so it all had an happy ending.:)
 
Aisne lines,that's the one nick,had to go there once when I went with two other blokes ( one was a radio op.) on advanced training.Trouble was we went through London to get to Catterick and should have changed trains at York,I fell asleep on the train and woke up in Newcastle..no mates and no kit,had to find my way to Aisne lines to recover my belongings,and get back to Le Cateu lines... about 3 days adrift.
I first went to catterick in 1954,Gallowgate,Mons and Le Cateu lines,I think...of course I was very young as this pic shows. :rolleyes:
 
Old Mohawk Our battalion, 1para went into Suez by tank landing craft. We had been held up for a while by the American Navy Blockade in the Med on the way out from Cyprus, we were on the troopship Empire Parkeston When got inside the breakwater at Suez we were then offloaded onto the landing craft we all had a bullet up the spout with safety catches on. The big door dropped and we all marched out to the cheers of the French Paratroopers who were sitting on the beach, this must have been another reserve battalion. The RAF were dive bombing an oil tank thick black smoke was billowing up in the sky. The were lumps missing off the side of buildings were tanks had been firing at snipers. After a couple of days a cease fire was called and we were taken back to Cyprus on the Aircraft Carrier HMS Ocean which was still mainly in mothballs
Moss in Aus
 
I & 5 mates put our names for the RN, hardest service to get in 5% I believe, five of us did & all say what a great experience it was too. All of us had attended Icknield St School till we left at 14.(1945)
They were me Eric Blackham, Alan Jones, Robert (bibby) Gould, Roy Jackson (dec),& Percy Parlett (dec) We were great mates before & after our stint in the RN & remain in touch today.
 
I was looking through some old papers and found these photos of our intake at RAF Melksham in 1957. I'm struck by how happy we looked considering we had to leave our girl friends far away, there was the threat of nuclear war, NS service pay was meagre.- also we didn't always have our hands in pockets.
In our flight there were 3 Brummies together with guys from the Orkney Isles and Isle of Wight.
National Sevice reached everywhere in the Britain of those days...:p

normal_The_Lads_RAF_Melksham.jpg


Outside_Hut_RAF_Melksham.JPG
 
Last edited:
Hi Old Mohawklike you i had some great mates.had lots of laughs;i have managed to get in touch
with a couple of them after 50 years one lives in Essex the other one lives about seven miles
away in Erdington.we got together again at the old oscot club had a few beers.now go fishing regularly.
all the best.
 
Richard I've kept in touch with my mate for over 50 years he lives in Bury.
 
I would like to remember my brother to-day as it would have been] his 71st birthday.He was in the Royal Signals Paracute Regt. He was Sgt Ronnie Clayton but unfortunately died in 1975 in his 18th year of service age 35.
 

Attachments

  • turvey.jpg
    turvey.jpg
    37.8 KB · Views: 8
Last edited:
Topsy what was the Royal Sig's Para "8" ?
1,2,3, Para Regt's, 9Para RE, 7Para RHA, Pathfinders Guards Ind Para, 11Para Territorial.
can't remember any more some one will know I am sure.
paul
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top