Arborfield Old Boys Association
AOBA
Arborfield Life
General reminiscences...
By Gerry Berragan, 48B
Having passed 'the examination', I then enlisted and received the 'King's Shilling'
at the Army Recruiting Office in Fishergate, York, in July or August of 1948. My
brother Clifford, and cousin, Derek Kirkpatrick, joined the Army Technical School
in September 1944 (44B), so had already left in July 1947. In early September 1948,
I travelled from York, through London (for the first time) en route to Wokingham,
clutching a small suitcase containing all my worldly possessions. That was then,
but I now need a pantechnicon to move house!
An uncertain start...
Arriving at Wokingham
railway station with a few other boys, we were met in the traditional manner by a
Sergeant with a 15-
At
a very early stage, we were told to put on our uniforms and to parade in the 'quiet
room' for inspection. After a brief look, Sgt O'Brien invited me to stand on a small
table. With false pride, I thought I was being displayed as an example of an immaculate
turnout. He then invited the rest of the squad to spot if there were any errors in
my dress. Which they did to a man, gleefully pointing out that I had my gaiters on
upside down!
I cannot in all honesty say that I was very happy during my first week
or so at Arborfield -
I well remember 'passing off the Square' after the obligatory
six weeks of 'square bashing'. I was the one who managed to do a 'left incline' when
all the others correctly followed the order to 'right incline'. But whilst fully
expecting to be lynched, it appeared that I was given some credit by the Guards'
CSMs (who I believe were from Sandhurst) for remaining still until being instructed
to do a 'right turn' and face the same way as the rest of the squad! I have the recollection
that our squad won the drill competition, but cannot be too sure.
Sgt O'Brien, who
was very fierce but nevertheless scrupulously fair and well respected, left after
we had completed our square bashing and was replaced by a Sergeant from the Gloucesters
(badges front and back), but I cannot remember his name. Major Charrington was our
then Company Commander and we were paid ten shillings and sixpence (10/6d) a week.
Out of that, we were actually given four bob (4/-
My chosen trade was that
of Vehicle Mechanic (VM) and I spent many happy hours filing and chiseling blocks
of metal into ever-
After HQ Company, although
I had expected that with all the other VMs I would go into B Coy, there were apparently
too many VMs in our intake, so a number of us were put into A Coy. I have very little
recollection of my time there, but I did play cricket for both the Company and the
School teams throughout the summer of 1949. During that year I was promoted to A/L/Cpl
and returned to HQ Coy as a junior NCO. I remained there for the next three intakes
-
Although it meant giving up either a Saturday or a Sunday, playing
sport for the School provided a wonderful opportunity to meet players from other
teams and backgrounds, as well as travelling to other schools and colleges. We played
at Eton, Charterhouse, Winchester, Pangbourne, RAF Halton and the two other Apprentices'
Schools at Chepstow and Harrogate. My mother came over from York to watch me play
at Harrogate, where Lyons and myself, as opening batsmen, put on over a hundred runs
-
I captained the School Cricket XI for
the 1950 and 1951 seasons and was awarded my School Colours. I was very proud to
wear the gold on the forage cap and still have the small shield presented to me in
respect of my period as School Captain. Whilst at the Apprentices' School, I had
passed my Army Certificate of Education at 2 nd and then 1 st Class; four subjects
of the Forces Prelim; VM Class III; City and Guilds -
One incident that comes to mind is the stabbing of the Provost Sergeant
(Fred Silvers) by one of his own junior staff. It is of interest in that, although
the stabbing took place on military property, the culprit was not, as to be expected,
tried by a court martial. Instead, he was only put in front of the local magistrate's
court, where he received what can only be called a rather lenient sentence.
During my last six months at Arborfield I acquired, jointly with
a colleague called Routledge, a motorcycle. It was a 1936 Zenith with a 500cc Jap
engine, for which we both contributed £20, a small fortune to us. It was, of course,
totally illegal, but we kept it in a farmer's barn on the left-
Many of our Saturday nights were spent
dancing at the Drill Hall in nearby Wokingham. But on numerous occasions I would
end up soaking wet as I rode the bike back to Camp in pouring rain and cold conditions.
This could well be the reason why I contracted rheumatic fever whilst on leave, having
just passed out of the AAS in July 1951. Thanks to that bout of fever, I was admitted
to the military hospital up in York, where I spent the next four months.
That may
sound pretty good, but for most of that time I was confined to bed, lying flat on
my back and virtually unable to move. Having certain reservations about using a bedpan,
I would drop off the bed in the early hours every night, stuff a pillow under the
bedclothes and literally crawl on my hands and knees to the luxury of the toilet!
Why no member of the nursing staff realised that I hadn't used the bedpan for the
three months or so that I was bed-
At the end of my time in hospital, it was touch and go
as to whether I would be medically discharged, as I had been downgraded to P7 HO
(Home Only). Fortunately for me, it was decided that I would remain in the Army and
I returned to Arborfield to convalesce in late 1951. Thus, for a few short months,
I became a Craftsman on the Permanent Staff (PS), back at boys' school. Whilst there
I obtained another more modern motorcycle, which I was allowed -
Upwardly mobile...
Around May/June 1952, I moved on to 14 Command Workshop at Ashford
in Kent, where I subsequently gained my VM Class II qualification. Although at Ashford
for a mere six months, I could probably write a whole book about my time there! But
to keep it short, I played rugby and other sports and managed to get medically upgraded
to P6 LE, with the result that I joined a batch of VMs posted to Austria. I was keen
to become further medically upgraded, in order to apply for a commission and take
the War Office Selection Board (WOSB). My time in Austria was memorable in that I
gained my First Class trade, promoted to Corporal and finally re-
I applied for a commission in July 1953 and returned to England
to attend the WOSB at Barton Stacey. Having passed the board, I was then employed
at the Depot REME, again at Arborfield, whilst waiting to be sent to Eaton Hall,
the Officer Cadet Training School based in Cheshire. It was during this time that
the then Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, used the Army to break the petrol tanker
drivers' strike. I was a member of a group sent to the Regent Fuel Depot in Barking,
Essex, and allocated a 2,000 gallon articulated petrol tanker to drive. It was a
great experience at the time, particularly in the great welcome we received from
the public at large.
Although very intense, I found the sixteen-
During the RYO course, I
was informed that I was to be posted as 2I/C of the LAD, 7 th Queen's Own Hussars,
who were returning from Germany to Tidworth, prior to a spell in Hong Kong the following
August. As I had a few spare months between the RYO course and taking up my appointment,
I applied to attend a parachute course. After two weeks with P Company in Aldershot
and four weeks jumping at Abingdon, I qualified as a parachutist, but did not in
fact join the airborne forces until 1963. During my subsequent tour in Hong Kong,
the OC of the LAD was none other than Capt Pat Lee, who later went on to become DGEME.
Whilst still in the Far East, I applied to take a Regular Commission Board (RCB)
and after successfully overcoming that hurdle, I was transferred to the Royal Army
Ordnance Corps (RAOC) in 1956. It was a significant year all round as, apart from
the debacle that was later referred to as the 'Suez Crisis' -
My
service with the RAOC during the next thirty-
I
was eventually promoted to Major General and appointed Director General of Ordnance
Services (DGOS) in September 1985. I was awarded the CB (Companion of the Bath) in
the 1988 New Year's Honours List and had the honour of accompanying HM the Queen
(Colonel-
Time to relax?
Following my retirement in 1988, I was appointed Chief Executive of
the Institute of Packaging in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, serving in that capacity
until the end of 1998 before finally retiring. I have three adult sons -
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Arborfield Old Boys Association 1999 -
Gerry was not alone in achieving high rank in the British Army for many ex apprentices went on to be commissioned with many gaining their 'red tabs'.