 A SOLDIER OF THE QUEEN.
In 1954, at the age of eighteen years,
I was one of the Teddy boy lads,
DA haircut, bootlace tie and drainpipes,
Purple jacket, with shoulder pads.
One day in late September,
A brown envelope came through our door,
Nobody ever wrote to me ,
So I left it on the floor.
Mum picked it up and opened it,
Tears ran down her face, all hot,
She said "oh no, my poor little Billy,
you've got to report to Aldershot.
With my call up papers in my pocket,
I swaggered onto to the train atWaterloo
Put me blue suede shoes up on the seat,
I'll tell this army crowd what to do.
"Alright you 'orrible rabble,
form three ranks by the railway line,
Yer might 'ave broken yer muvvers 'art,
but yer certainly wont break mine.
I am sergeant B. Slaven,
I'll let yer guess what the B stands for
You've 'ad easy up till now,
But I guarantee yer wont any more. We were all marched off to the company stores,
Kitted out with uniforms, boots and packs,
thrown across the counter with the famous words,
"If it fits you, bring it back".
From the stores to the medical centre,
where it was"Drop your trousers and cough"
It was so cold in that God forsaken place,
I'm sure mine was going to drop off. The M.O. looked inside my left ear,
His assistant looked inside my right,
They couldn't see each other,
So I was passed "A1, health alright"
I had to think very quickly,
everything was going their way,
I could end up in H.M.Forces,
If I didn't soon have my say.
What about my flat feet sir?
My eyes are a different blue
"Oh I wouldn't worry about them lad,
Just be thankful you've still got two".
From there we marched to the barbers shop,
"Sit down there, don't even talk"
Off came my Teddy Boy hairstyle,
I'm sure he used a knife and fork.
So began my first days of training,
A national serviceman, with the R.A.S.C,
It was clean this,scub and polish that,
I was as miserable as anyone could be.
One of the first things you learnt in training,
Is that you do everything at the double,
Just try to even resemble a human being,
And you could find yourself in trouble.
At attention on parade, one morning,
The R.S.M. stopped behind me to glare,
"I'm very sorry if I am hurting you lad But I'm standing on yer 'air.
Did you 'ave a shave this morning?
I can see stubble on yer chin,
Well, make sure that tomorrow morning,
You put a razor blade in".
It's surprising, during training,
The time drags by so slow,
I had been in the army seven whole days,
Only sven hundred and twenty three to go.
But looking back on my army life,
The things I did, the sights I've seen,
The one thing I can say with pride,
" I WAS A SOLDIER OF THE QUEEN"
BY BILL REEVES
EX 58 CAR COY GHQ CAR CYPRUS. |
