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National Service

  • Thread starter Thread starter RayD
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I have just lost my brother last November who was in the royal signals and did the same trip as you only two years before when the problems were bad . One thing he did was take about 700 photo's over that time. He was at Nanuki ( not sure about spelling) he had it rough but did not say much about the horrors he saw.
Dave
 
Hi Eddie 14, Sorry to hear that your brother passed on.    I guess he was in Kenya at the worst possible time, as by the time i went, 2 years later, things had died down a lot.   Jomo Kenyatta the leader of the uprising, was arrested about 3 months of me being there.   After the crisis, around 1956 ?  he was made President..say no more?     I used to travel regularly to Nanyuki with an armed escort to deliver official  mail to the garrison there.   It was a lovely drive there, over what they call, The Escarpment, and able to look down at this vast lake(forgotten the name) which was covered in Pink Flamingos, as this was their breeding ground.  Marvelous site.    Ron.
 
Where have you all gone, don't tell me, broken fingers, they take a long time to heal. Another little story from Devises camp,
Being attached out in the sticks it was a job getting home to Brum unless I caught the coach from the R.A.P.C camp up the road at 12 noon on a Saturday on a 36 hr pass,so to do that I had to leave the camp and run up the road to catch the coach but to do that I would have to leave about five minutes before twelve to make it. I would get a pass off the C.Q.M.who was a Major and my boss, a smashing bloke who had come up through the ranks and was more like a squaddy than a Major.
I was just going to pass in front of the Guard room when I heard the dreaded voice of the C.S.M. "And where are you going Cpl Edwards" "To catch the coach up the road sir from the Pay Corp" . "And who said you can go" "Major Goswell Sir." Just at that moment Major Goswell came from the same direction as I but about 10 yds behind me from up the stairs of the Keep. "What are you doing here Cpl Edwards you will not catch that coach, get away" Yes, Sir". Then the muck hit the fan, Major Goswel gave the C.S.M a right Boll-----g for delaying from getting away.I heard him say Cpl Edwards works for me not you and I tell him when he can go, and then I got out of ear shot. I thought I am for it on Monday but nothing was said. A right So and So he was.
Dave
 
Hi Dave -I'm just lying low keeping out of sight, sitting in the 'Sally Ann' with a mug of tea.
Your mention of 36hr passes makes me think of all the many servicemen rushing around the country at weekends, leaving Saturday 12 noon and back in the early hours Monday morning. At RAF Topcliffe in Yorkshire many of us needed to catch the 12.10 train from Thirsk station two miles away. Going out the front gate before 12.00 was impossible so about 40 airmen used to sneak out at 11.30 across the fields and walk along a little branch line that led to Thirsk. One Saturday we were waiting on the platform, when word went round that an Officer had been seen getting out of a taxi at the station front.
Panic, we all needed to hide and rush into any available cover. I was in a mob that dived into the small gents toilets, such a crowd packed into the cubicles.
Lookouts reported that the Officer was standing alone on the now deserted platform, as we anxiously looked at our watches.
When the train arrived, the Officer took ages to board the train and the guard was getting ready to wave off the train.
We could wait no longer and all rushed out just managing to get on the train even as it started to move.
The Officer sat looking well pleased with his weekend fun, even the guard and station staff seemed amused by it all.
Phil
 
Phil, when you think back the amount of times you were saluting an Officer in the Street. Portsmouth was the place to be because of all the navel people over there and we were in the town many time at Aggie Westons and there was Hillsea bks as well and they were in the town at the same time but we had no trouble.
Our Officers at camp were very laid back, the whole camp was laid back when I come to think of it, they never pulled rank at all. Many a time one of them would come up to the armoury just to see how things were going and a chat and watch what I was doing.
One ex officer one day came to me with a No 8 service pistol which had been made safe by removing the hammer head but he wanted me to fit a new one, so I said you will have to leave it with me and he left. I spoke to the R.S.M about it and he told me to forget it and he would have a word with him. That weapon was never collected from me.
Dave
 
Eddie 14 said:
Phil, when you think back the amount of times you were saluting an Officer Dave
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Dave - Saluting was a minefield in the first week of basic training. If we played safe and saluted someone who shouldn't be saluted (Sergeants - Warrant Officers) they shouted at us. If we didn't salute an Officer then all sorts of unpleasant things could happen, and I can remember we sometimes hid until they had walked past to avoid decisions about saluting. After a week of two your right arm came up automatically at the right moments. It seems daft now looking back but it was serious then. Things got easier on operational RAF bases and most aircrew officers couldn't be bothered...
Phil
 
Going from basic training to RAF Yatesbury was equally as much of a change. For ten weeks you'd had a certain modus operandi drilled into you until it became automatic and for the first 24 hours at Yatesbury you had to unlearn it all again accompanied by remarks like "Oh, we don't bother with all that nonsense here". The only people who upheld the modus operandi were the Service Police, whose job it was to be as obnoxious as possible. However, once I moved to my permanent station even that went out the door as I was recruited to the Station Band and permanent night shift, otherwise known as being Fireproof!

Maurice
 
Phil, another incident at Gosport this time. Three of us Cpls had to take about 80 new intakes to have their photo's taken over at Portsmouth Hilsea bks one day so we had to march them through Gosport to the ferry then over to Pompy. Up through the town then on to Hilsea to the R.E.M.E bks, we lined them up in three ranks up against a wall and they were at stand easy. I possibly more than the other two was keeping watch for officers when I saw a soft flat officers hat just above a wall from the main road heading for our area. Now, R.S.M's wore a flat hat but they were not so thick around the rim and the material was not as soft as an officers, this one was a soft one so I brought the squad to attention and what came round the corner just as I was bringing my right arm up, you can guess, an R.S.M. wearing a officers hat. You got caught out there Cpl, I thought bugger it, Better safe than sorry Sir, he just smiled and walked on. I am sure some did this wearing of an officers hat just to cause this sort of trouble.
The next I had the P--s taken out of me by the squad so I kept them at attention until they were called.
Dave
 
Nothing happened here since I was last on, where are you all? I was thinking, as we all do when we get older, the other day, what daft things we did to keep away the bordom on a Wednesday afternoon sports day, At Devises I sometimes worked if I had a urgent job to do but usually we had a kick around on the sports field or go round the assult course for a laugh. One Wednesday afternoon about ten of us went round and it was too easy because we only had sport kit on so to make it a bit of fun when we came to the water jump we decided to go two at a time. Fatal, Bob Lowery got on my back and we both grabbed the rope and took off, you can guess what happened, Bob was not gripping the rope tight enough and we landed up to our waists in stincking mud, my hands had rope burns and nobody would come near us. As soon as we could we got into the shower to rid ourselves of the smell, I can remember that smell to this day
 
Eddie 14:

Oh Eddie, slow down, nothing as energetic as that! Sure when I was at Yatesbury in 1955 it was a gorgeous summer and, of course, we skived off sports day. We skived off most afternoons for that matter as a group of us were on radio courses, but had amateur radio licences before we went in the service, so the coursework bored us silly. We didn't get as far as Devizes, but opposite Yatesbury Camp was a clump of trees on a hill overlooking Devizes, and we would nip over the perimeter fence, cross the road, and lie sunbathing by the trees. Now that's what I call skiving! :-)

Maurice
 
Wednesday afternoons, I remember them well - haircuts or sports. I used to think that Wednesday afternoons would be a good time for the Soviets to launch an attack because most of us were sitting in a barber's chairs or skiving on the sports field !
 
Very strange - I remember absolutely nothing about Wednesday afternoons. After trade training I spent the rest of my two years out in the Lincolnshire sticks at a flying training aerodrome which operated on a five day per week basis (unless some b*st*rd decided on weekend flying, but that was rare). And we tended to work shifts.

No sports facilities of any kind. Well, I suppose not entirely accurate. A couple of mates and I did discover the existence of a badminton court in a disused building and decided to give it a go when we were off duty. The court was already in use with a couple of officers playing doubles with their wives. Each of them dressed in dinky little white shorts - all rather incongruous in a windowless, bitumastic painted, corrugated iron building - and thoroughly enjoying themselves until we appeared. After a further five minutes of dainty activity under the baleful and probably lustful gaze of us teenaged erks, glances were exchanged and they retired from the court. We counted it as a minor victory.

A miracle occurred one spring. Almost overnight a tennis court appeared adjacent to our Nissen. Where it came from and what one was supposed to do with it, no one was ever told. We Air Traffic Control clerks somehow found racquets and made use of it from time to time but most of the squadron lads viewed it with deep suspicion, regarding the whole thing as a poncey activity and therefore those who indulged in it as, by definition, a load of .........

But perhaps the blank in my memory stems from adherence on my part to Billy Butlin's philosophy: "If I ever feel the temptation to take strenuous exercise, I lie down until I feel better".

Chris
 
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ChrisM said:
Very strange - I remember absolutely nothing about Wednesday afternoons.
Chris
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You are right Chris, when I think back I only remember Wednesday afternoons during my 8 months trade training. On a flying base in Yorkshire we had 5 day shift working, and most days when the aircraft took off for their afternoon's flying over the North Sea the NCO's usually found mundane jobs for us to do while we waited for the aircraft to return. We usually tried to hide from these 'fatigues' and one warm sunny afternoon we sneaked off into a nearby field and lay hidden in the long grass but were unaware that the station commander was flying in from a trip. As he circled for landing he spotted us and radioed the tower which led to a posse of NCO's suddenly pouncing on us.
 
"Watcha" Dave , Yep not too bad, had a bad sinus infection for a month or two, antibiotics can't shift it, but soldiering on, thanks for the thought. I saw the various postings but as I had nothing to do with the (Raff), except on the occasional exercise, and the fact they were issued with Pajama's and Brillcream, and we weren't, something that will never be forgotten, or forgiven, did't get involved. I hope that all you old veterans, don't get too cold on Sunday, and that you stand smartly for the "last Post", I am sure you all will be thinking of your old pals as I will. Just to mention I saw a newspaper report the other day in the "I", its only 20p so I read it occasionally usually full of nonsense but some one wrote that they were "APPALLED" at everyone wearing a poppy and celebrating war?????? It never fails to dismay me how anyone could think like that, I wear mine to give for present day boys and girls hurt during campaign service, and for their help when old, and to remember all those others who died or were hurt in past decades, certainly not for celebrating anything. regards to all Paul.
 
Paul it just goes to show how some people are ill informed what the Poppy money does for those unfortunate to have been injured it conflicts. As regards my health I still have the ulcer after 8 months and one month on anti biotics. Press on regardless!!!.
Dave
 
cove.jpg

Hi Ex Sappers.

Does this bring back any memories this a No 3 Royal Engineers at Cove, Farnbrough, Dec 1959

The day after we passed out and was sent to our regular units the floor was trashed by sliding boots.

I was sent to No17 Port Regt RE at Marchwood Southampton
 
I'm ex RAF and quite impressed with that broom display down the far end. I think it was tradition to trash the floor ready for the next lot coming in. When we moved in at Padgate, the DIs let us see the highly polished floor then tipped over the coke bins and stamped the coke into the floor.
 
What a rotten thing to do to the floor, at Barton Stacey we did not have to trash the floof it had been done way back in 1918 when the camp was condemned. At Gosport the floors were hard wood and they did not show the stud marks, Friday night was bull night on the floor, it was polished and then we used pull Billy Googh around on an old blanket all over the whole of the floor for about half an hour. he was only 5ft tall and he just fitted the bill.
For distraction purposes we would go to town on a particular item which always worked on the officers,I think they must have thought if that particular item is bulled up the rest of the billet does not need inspecting.
Broom handles and table tops were given a light coating of Vim when being scrubbed but you could not put too much on as the officer would rub his hand over it to see if the condition was genuine or all Vim. The blacking of the fire grate was never in question as we did not have anything to burn, lord knows where we would have put the ashes if we had.
On cold Winter nights bed was the only place to be,with some of the North country lads telling jokes which caused much laughter which generated body heat so we did not need the fire.
Dave
 
WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND.
During National Service and just having completed basic and trade training some of us guys where shipped overseas to Egypt. Our first stopping off place was a ' dispersal camp', where individuals where sorted out to join various working units
depending on their skills acquired during training.
This Camp had a particular permanent staff Sergant who's duties I gather was to keep all the lads in the camp ' up to scratch ' from the point of view of general discipline. This guy was an out and out ' Power Freak ' hiding behind his three
stripes. He endlessly crept about the camp pouncing on any one of a lower rank that came within his range.
I think that we all have to sometimes judge the difference between a ' Power Freak ' and a good ' Disciplinarian '.
BUT OUR TIME WAS TO COME.
Eventually we where dispatched to our individual ' working units '. Our small group where trained as ' Motor Mechanics ' and we arrived at a camp close to ISMAILIA where we began our work as ' vehicle inspectors '. This meant that we checked Army vehicles for mechanical faults it also meant that we checked for general vehicle maintenance and cleanliness
which was the responsibility of each individual driver of the vehicle.
One day, some months later, one of the team came dashing into the inspection area and said " Guess what lads ? Guess who's outside with his Motor Bike and has got to come in for inspection ? It's that Power Freak from the Dispersal Camp "
Keeping just within the laws of our inspection duties we went over this bike with a double tooth comb approach and pulled out all the stops regarding ' driver maintenance and cleanliness '.
At the end of the inspection his maintenance and cleanliness results read like a drivers nightmare.
Drivers where required to bring their vehicles in for inspection once a month and over the following months each time he brought his bike in for inspection we would continue to find some aspect of poor driver maintenance to put on his report.
He was reprimanded each time the reports went in ( Standard procedure ).
Where or not we managed in some small way to knock some of the Power Freak out of him I can't say.
We had a good try though.
 
I was a regular soldier but the guy with me on this particular day in Germany was national service with 3 weeks before his de-mob. To cut a long story short, we were in a 3 tonner delivering underwater equipment to somewhere in Berlin, which involved driving through the Berlin corridor. It was blowing a blizzard & we missed our turning into west Berlin & ended up in the outskirts of East Berlin ( Though we didn`t know that at the time) It was eerily dark & drove through two checkpoints without being stopped. It was so dark we didn`t get a good look at who was manning the checkpoints but we had our suspicions. We finally arrived in Berlin & when we noticed Russian soldiers we knew we`d goofed bigtime. I spoke a little German & asked someone where "Checkpoint Charlie" was & we were only about 2 hundred yards from the checkpoint & West Berlin. We drove on & the guards raised the first barrier, drove through a short chicane & finally got to the last barrier & that`s where our luck ran out. Anyway, we were detained for a couple of hours with East German "Vopo`s" pointing automatic weapons at us & demanding our ID cards which we refused to do. Eventually a very large Russian officer turned up & he told us to follow him in his convoy & he took us all the way back to where we should have turned off in the first place!! Miserable sod, why they couldn`t have simply raised the final barrier & let us through to the west i don`t know. Teaching us a lesson i should imagine. We had lots of uncomfortable questions to answer when we arrived at our destination.:-{
 
My husband was telling me about his Army cape/groundsheet, and how handy it was. Also how slippery the studs on the bottom of the boots were!
rosie.
 
I jumped off an "Aldervalley", bus once Rosie, as it went round the Island in front of the "NAAFI Club", in Aldershot, I was wearing my "Ammo Boots", and with the studs sparking slid for about 200 feet down the Ash Vale road.
Hope you had a merry Christmas Rosie, and will have a healthy New Year, that goes for all you ex service men and women. Paul
 
Nice to see you are around Paul hope you had a good Christmas and that goes for all the people on the forum. The upper gallery at Gosport had inlaid quarry stones, about 12 inches square and they were hell to stop on especially if your studs were half worn and they would cover the gaps between each tile,new studs were conical and small when fitted and these would catch in the cracks, you had a tendancy to slide for ever with the worn ones.
I had two ground sheets, one issued when I joined and one which was issued to armourers, a Poncho, which gave me better cover because it had a hood which you could tighten on a draw string when working out on the range, it also had arm holes so I was covered all the time, not like a ground sheet which you had to lift to get your arms out, kept you warm as well as the body heat could not get out.

Dave
 
Alf they must have over paid me 28 shillings on joining in 1953 then to 35 shillings on promotion 2 great years square bashing at hednesford trade training at middle wallop then rest of the time in South Coast at radar stations and with boxing and football never had much time for radar ! Great time


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It was 28 bob a week when i joined in March 1954 before any deductions like barrack room damages and a bit towards your credits ,which you could draw out when going on leave
 
I can remember my first pay day in the RAF watching 14 two shilling coins counted out on the table. Using an inflation calculator, that's apparently equivalent to £29.66 these days.
 
I ended up with 22/6 after stoppages and 1/3 for a pillow case which was slightly torn in the corner, not by me I might add, I thought it was the norm to have been issued with faulty goods, you soon get to learn, never accept anything that is not up to scratch.
Dave
 
Each week we exchanged all the billets sheets and pillow cases for clean ones from the station laundry stores. One week we were short of one clean sheet, the store man had miscounted or deliberately cheated us, and said we had lost or destroyed a sheet - we could not prove otherwise.
But the RAF had trained us to be resourceful, so next week we cut a sheet in half and carefully folded the two half sheets in the pile for when the store man counted them. We received our new issues and carefully counted them, we had learnt that store men could cheat. The sheets including two half sheets went off to the central laundry ... one up for us !
 
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