 I came from a very impoverished family, my mother was short dumpy woman who had strict Victorian values, she always carried a cloth in her hand (a) to clean anything which had the temerity to stand still for more than a second, (b) to keep us lads in order, no swearing in her house and the phrase cleanliness is next to Godliness was carried out 100%.
I have also seen her bite her lip when food was short, she was the rock on which the whole family anchored on. My Father was blinded in the First World War, he was discharged in 1917, consequently became quite bitter because he could no longer ply his trade as a Carriage Maker.
I had two brothers and two sisters; I was the baby of the family, and the last to volunteer for the forces. My middle brother was in the Navy serving on the Tribal Class Destroyer H.M.S. ASHANTI, he was not allowed to claim me, therefore I became a brown job serving in a branch of the Royal Signals, although my Father lived until after the war my abiding memory of him was seeing him cry his eyes out on Euston Station as I left for my initial training.
. My first stop was Gibralter and I flitted about between Seville and Oran, (Sir Samuel Hoare was our man in Seville). I was on lookout duty when I saw a flotilla of Destroyers entering the Straits, my heart leapt when I recognised the number of the ASHANTI, I approached my C.O. who gave me permission to take what leave was necessary. I went to the docks and asked for my brother who was given leave to see me.
The next three days were clouded in memory as we embarked on a drunken Bacchanalia. I was heart broken when he left, luck does not last forever, he had already done two Russian convoys and a Malta convoy, and I knew the odds had shortened.
My future included a brief flirtation with North Africa, thence to Italy. And Casino, I was then with the Second New Zealand division. After Casino I flew to Romania, Bucharest for some time before going back to Italy for the final Coup-de-grace. Joining the 10th Indian Division I flew to India where I stayed for the changeover, which did get a bit hairy at times.
To my Mother tea drinking was a ritual carried out with due process. The tea would be drunk slowly and reverently, when the last drop had been drunk the saucer would be placed on top of the cup and the whole lot turned round in a circle three times, then turned upside down, the tealeaves would be read.
My sister Winifred was home on leave at this time and my mother cried out look!! It is plain as a pikestaff there is a soldier and a sailor shaking hands I bet those two lads have met. Sure enough the next letter home from me gave her the news that we had met in Gibralter. My sister Winifred and I are the only two of us, who are left, and we still recall this incident with no little awe and neither of us can make our minds up whether it was prophetic or just an amazing coincidence.J.B.
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