Arborfield Old Boys Association
AOBA
Arborfield Life
John Johnson's early years at AAS...
I was three months past my fifteenth birthday and of an independent mind when on
28 August 1956, 1 set out with very little fear or trepidation on a lifetime adventure.
It began with a train ride to Brighton, compliments of Her Majesty's Government.
It was a straightforward journey, being on a direct line from Chichester, that ancient
of cities. When I arrived at Brighton railway station there were three or four other
lads also waiting for the recruiting officer. We made our way to the HM Forces Movements
Office on the station, as instructed in our letters. My next clear memory is of being
seated in the recruiter's office and then being duly sworn in together and signing
on the dotted line.In retrospect it was somewhat foolish to expect a fifteen-
So in that short and meaningful ceremony, I signed away twelve years of my life to
the service of my country for a starting wage of 31 shillings and sixpence per week,
before deductions -
I remember there was a photographer from the local paper and the resultant picture
shows the small group of us sitting around a table in the recruiting office, all
smiling as if we had won a prize. What the picture does not show is the paper carrier
bag jammed behind my back that contained one change of underwear and socks plus washing
kit, carefully selected by my father. It was fraudulent to give me shaving gear;
I couldn't raise any more than bum fluff and managed well into my twenties with shaving
only every other day.
Leaving home was nothing new having spent some years with my
grandmother, up to and after my grandfather's death, then later a couple of years
at a British Army boarding school in Hamm, Germany, when my father's regiment (The
Royal Sussex) was posted to Minden. The school was Windsor School; my schoolhouse
was Marlborough House and my house number, MIS. To me, living in similar circumstances
to a boarding school held no horrors. Little did I know!
Whether we each received
a train ticket to Wokingham in Berkshire or whether it was group ticket I can't remember.
Nonetheless, we all arrived at Wokingham on time. Of my companions, I can only remember
Tiny Noble, a chap called Fry, and another called Sugget. Getting off the train in
Wokingham, we met up with others who were also going to the apprentices school, amongst
which were two old acquaintances from Windsor School, Ralph Wright and Klaus Pennington.
I knew the former well, and his brother, Wright minor, as the Housemaster used to
say at roll call, as we were Marlborough housemates. It is much easier being in a
strange place with people you know, so it was going to be okay. Eventually we were
ordered into a typically smelly army three-
Arborfield was the home of the Corps
of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers; the regular army corps that we would
all be going to once our three-
We were assigned to Headquarter Company where the initial training phase would take
place, square bashing and other soldier like activities necessary to ensure that
one fits into the system. This phase lasted six months, after which we would be detailed
off to one of the other four companies, where we would be promoted to 'Two Division'
and (unofficially) able to bully the new intake. We would spend the remaining two
and a half years of our apprenticeship in our appointed companies. My intake was
designated 56B, indicating the year and second intake of the year, there being two
intakes, January and August, January's lot were 56A. We were jealous of our intake
number and as all boys do, we thought it was superior to any other.
I was a chancy
bargain as far as the Army was concerned, having been selected more for my cadet
experience and record than my already stated dismal academic abilities. In addition,
I was later to discover that more than one of my contemporaries in the AAS had been
given an alternative by a juvenile court, 'The Army or a Borstal Boys detention centre'.
So much for the touted selection process! Of what value was I?
The AAS worked on a six division system, beginning with one division (basic training)
then progressing every six months to a higher division until reaching Six Division,
which was the last six months of one's apprenticeship. By then many were receiving
regular army rates of pay, because of their age. Our apprentice rates were somewhat
less. To the rest of the Regular Army we were known as 'boy soldiers'.
We 'new boys'
were shown into our barrack's spider block and put in the charge of an Apprentice
Corporal. That is to say that he was an apprentice who held the rank of Cpl in the
AAS structure. Anyone not holding an apprentice rank was referred to as A/T, meaning
Apprentice Tradesman. The Corporal was to be our guide and mentor for the next six
months. One of his first warnings was that smoking was forbidden until the age of
sixteen and then only with the written permission of one or both parents. Fortunately
for me, at that time I was a non-
The Corporal, a wise old man of seventeen or so, ambled into the room and
surveyed us motley lot then asked 'Anyone here from the South of England?' I was
from the South. I was the son of an old soldier. I knew better than to fall into
the trap of answering. Of the sixteen roommates, several raised their hands. 'Good!
That means you can easily learn how to make a bed. I will demonstrate and you will
all copy me and make your bed exactly as I show you'. From his voice we inferred
that he was prejudiced against southerners. As it turned out he was merely parroting
something he had been subjected to in his early days. And so he proceeded to show
us all how an army bed was to be made up for sleeping in, and how it was to be stripped
and boxed every morning. The stripping and boxing -
The next activity was eating. Lunch had been kept over for us until after
the older hands had eaten. We trooped after the Corporal a few yards to the dining
room. The ritual here was to present a meal card, printed with little squares -
There's little to say about the meals, save that none starved or lost unnecessary
weight. We had good meals and bad ones. As young men we were perpetually hungry anyway,
so no matter how often they could have fed us, we would never have had enough. To
supplement your daily ration there was always a trip to the NAAFI, where for a very
modest sum one could acquire a simple meal like pie and chips. Payday meant a treat
at the NAAFI, if one was prepared to wait in a very long queue. NAAFI is pronounced
'naffy', not 'narfee', as pointed out by our mentor, the initials mean the Corporal
assured us that it stood for 'No Ambition And Fuck all Interest'. Amusing, but very
unfair, seeing that they provided a worldwide service which generally was appreciated
and very much missed when the facility was not available.
Having been fed and watered,
we were marched (shambled, is a better description) to the Quartermaster's Store
where we were to receive our uniforms and other items. As to the actual clothing
received, it is a dim memory now aside from the World War I pattern high collar uniforms
and three of everything relating to shirts, underwear, socks and the like. 'You gets
free', says the store man 'cause you has one on, one in the wash and one in yer locker
fer inspections!' Of the ritual that goes with the issue of equipment I do clearly
remember the fact that I and one other had been given the same army number. Those
experienced in these things will know that one's number is of paramount importance.
The NUMBER precedes all else in seniority when it comes to filling in names and other
personal details. Each of us was called by name and given a slip of paper on which
was written the number we had been allocated. We were told to commit it to memory,
as it would be required almost every day for the next few days. And so we stood about
mumbling the sequences to ourselves in a determined effort to get it off pat before
we lost the piece of paper. Clutching the said piece of paper, we filed into the
hallowed halls of the QM stores where were seated on a long and uncomfortable bench.
We sat silently until the Store man condescended to attend to our needs. The apprentice
corporals maintaining a superior attitude as befits wiser heads. As we sat and waited
we smiled at the humorous notices pinned high above the issues counter. Of those
there I remember only two, which although now known to be older than the hills, were
very new to us. The first read 'We know it doesn't fit but think of the public expense!'
The second read along the lines that 'Regardless of rumours to the contrary, there
are only two sizes available in the Army. 2 BIG and 2 SMALL!'.
A civilian working
in the stores appeared from behind a ceiling high row of storage shelves and having
been through this saga a hundred times, he wearily and boringly explained the issue
procedure. 'I will call out a number from this list,' he tapped a clipboard on the
countertop I you will answer 'Here!' if it matches the one in your hand. You will
come forward and give me your surname and initials. Then I will issue you your kit.
If you know your hat, shoe and collar sizes, tell me when I ask for it.' And so the
waiting began as one by one numbers were called and kit was issued. There were none
who didn't know their shoe size but almost all had no idea of their hat size. The
ancient store man was by no means put out at this. He went through a strange ritual,
which involved the recruit clenching his fist and placing it knuckles down on a pair
of socks between heel and toe.
The heel and toe were then brought together over the
back of the hand. Different size socks were tried until the toe and heel of the sock
just touched. The store man then called out a number and invariably the cap and beret
produced by his sidekick, were a perfect fit. I am unable to explain why it worked,
but it surely did.
Then came the time when the number uttered by the store man matched
that on the paper slip in my hand. As bidden I stood and began to move forward. Then
I noticed that someone else had also stood and called out 'Here!' at the same time
as I. The store man said 'Sit down! Check your number carefully, two three four eight
seven one oh five!' I looked at my numbered slip. It read 23487105, so I stood up
and said 'Here!' So did the other fellow. Are you two idiots? One of you can't read.'
or something to that effect. He demanded we come forward so that he could look at
our slips. That's when we discovered that we had the same number. The other fellow
was alphabetically lower down than I, JONes as opposed to me, JOHnson. In this particular
and military way we were allocated our proper numbers, I retained the one in my hand.
It must be noted that the store man uttered nary a word of apology. The fact that
we were both right and not 'idiots' seemed to matter for nothing.
Of course I should
have known better. We were the lowest form of life in the hierarchy of the AAS and
even lower than the lowliest regular army recruit. Our kind warranted no apologies
or kind words of any description. Everyone senior to us, and that was the rest of
the apprentice school, were entitled by tradition to supersede us in any queue. Being
at or near the front of any line meant that all others in Divisions Two through to
Six simply took their place in front of you. They merely walked along the queue prodding
persons or asking "Division?" until the answer they got was one of their own or one
junior. There they pushed in and waited until someone senior came along and claimed
his " rightful" place in the queue.
Naturally there were protests from amongst the " new boys". These were dealt with
in a direct manner. Threats, menacing looks and in some cases a sympathetic laugh
such as that directed at someone whose intelligence was sadly lacking. The queues
were the cookhouse queue, the NAAFI queue and the camp cinema queue. The system was
called " jipping". The etymology of the word would probably make most interesting
reading.
The first six weeks were devoted to foot drill and the care and maintenance
of clothing and equipment. As is the Army way, no clothing was ever issued in the
form in which it must be maintained. Boots were issued with plain leather soles to
which we added a specified number of hobnails in a specific pattern. The large steel
nails had truncated cones for heads, which added 3 or 4 mm to one's height. The purpose
of the hobnails was to eliminate wear and tear on the soles of the boots. The heel
of each boot being shod with a miniature horseshoe. We all knew that the hobnails
were really there to produce a crunching noise, so beloved of sergeant majors, on
the gravel of the square and had thus clearly been invented by some past Regimental
Sergeant Major, probably from the Guards!
The toe and heel of the boots were pimply
and regarded as an anathema to the military eye, for we spent hours with a hot spoon
and polish eradicating this leather pox. Once the boots were cured of this dreadful
disease we spent more hours with polish, water and cotton wool bringing the treated
surface to a glossy mirror like finish. True, the finished effect was beautiful to
behold and endeared one to the hierarchy, to say nothing of the envy of friends and
foe alike if one achieved a perfect or almost perfect finish. This art was called
'beezing'.
Each piece of kit was marked with one's number, yet no provision by way
of a predetermined place for that number was provided. The position was determined
by the corporal in charge and, no doubt by trial and error over the years by a myriad
of corporals before him. The number was inked on with purple dye by means of a large
adjustable rubber stamp like the adjustable date stamps used in an office. If the
ink found its way onto one's fingers, it took days to remove. Boots were laboriously
marked with a set of steel stamps. Webbing, that collection of canvas belts and straps
designed by an octopus for the express purpose of deviant physical thrills, was also
issued in an untreated state. It was necessary to scrub it almost white and then
apply several very light layers of a tinned paste called 'Blanco Buff 6V. I have
no idea why it was so called, or even if Buff 60 or 62 existed in the army's inventory.
Where
there is webbing, there are brasses. Brass badges, shoulder plates, buckles, brass
tabs and runners. In addition, the tunics (best and working), greatcoats and caps
all had brass buttons of varying sizes. These all had to be polished to a smooth
bright shine. Woe betided anyone whose fingerprints marred the expected finish. A
little help was forthcoming here from a device known as a button stick (which itself
was made of brass and had to be cleaned and presented for inspection!).
The parade
belt was made of buckskin leather, some three or four millimetres thick. The buckle
was of heavy brass, in two pieces and very large. The belt required whitening in
such a manner that no cracks were visible in the finished surface. At the same time
the buckle had to be brilliantly polished, no cleaning agent visible in the intricacies
of the cast badge that adorned the belt buckle. The latter job meant sacrificing
a toothbrush.
In all of the above cases of spit and shine, the military neglected
to provide the wherewithal to do the job. This was a sacrifice made from one's own
pocket. Therefore, a certain amount of expenditure was incurred from the meagre pay
of the time. Having established a circle of friends, it was customary to share in
certain commodities, such as the tin of Brasso, the tin of Glitter (which was a tin
of tightly packed cotton wool soaked in a brass cleaning polish) and Blanco.
Ironing
was an acquired skill. One iron per barrack room (15 to16 persons to a room), no
thermostat, and in the charge of the room corporal. Inevitably, when the iron was
needed most, the corporal was nowhere to be seen.
The placement and sharpness of creases
was of paramount importance. Any deviation from the norm was viewed as akin to unspeakable
filth of mind and body. As indeed was being unshaven, unwashed and having a button
undone when in uniform. The latter being the most heinous of crimes. In the latter
case, the standard admonition was 'Are you a practising nudist?'
Being the son of a serving soldier and having spent some years as an army cadet,
I was already adept at the spit and polishing skills, having learnt from my father
and honed those skills on my army cadet equipment. I was one among a few who were
never penalised in any way for dirty kit at any time during my apprenticeship. I
did suffer the twisted humour of an apprentice corporal when he considered that as
my clothes and webbing couldn't be faulted, decided that a sock was improperly darned
and ordered me to throw my boots out of the room window onto the wet and muddy lawn
outside. As an aside, the corporal when inspecting socks would pose the question
'Where has the wool gone what belongs in this 'ere 'ole?' Whatever answer was given
always failed to satisfy him. To this day I have no idea where the wool what belongs
in this 'ere 'ole', goes to! The normal retribution for unsavoury webbing was for
the owner to mark time on the offending webbing while wearing his best boots. Bear
in mind that our boots were studded with heavy-
Aside from
having to press uniform with razor-
Anyone having been in uniform
knows full well the inordinate time taken to prepare even the meanest of webbing
for a close inspection. However well one applies oneself to the task, someone somehow
will find fault. Our daily wear belt was the standard web belt with its brass two-
To thoroughly clean these rear buckles,
we devised the method of sawing through the crosspiece of the buckle, where it was
normal hidden from sight by the loop of canvas that fixed it to the belt. In this
manner we cleaned the whole thing without getting brass polish on the webbing, where
it would stain the canvas if one was not careful, or dirty the blancoed finish. As
for the dress belt of buckskin, we had to whiten this to perfection and yet not have
so many layers of whitening that it cracked the moment it was lifted from the table.
The method handed down over the years was to scrub it clean and apply a one or two
thin coats to the front surface and top and bottom edges. 'Slashing' the belt solved
this problem. This meant cutting the stitching of the belt in such a way that the
two halves of the buckle could be completely removed from the belt. When the brasses
and 'slashed' belt were assembled, the belt was held together only by the runners,
which if they moved outward during drill and marching, would often lead to a belt
end unhooking itself, causing the belt to droop and one or both parts of the buckle
and even the belt to fall to the ground. Many a buckle and the odd belt has been
gleefully trodden into the parade square by a platoon of young soldiers whose sudden
enthusiasm for crashing their boots resoundly into the square, came as a surprise
to the squad NCO.
We learnt that IE meant 'Interior Economy', where we had to scrape
the polish off of the pineboard floors with knives and old razor blades and then
re-
We also learnt to develop a sharpness of the eye that could detect microscopic particles
of dust on radiators, window sills and even the beams above our heads (there being
no ceilings in the barrack rooms); to clean windows with spit and old newspapers
(to this day probably the best method). We learnt that to be really smart and well
turned out in all respects was to be, in AAS terminology, 'grovel', that the little
circles made by cloth and cotton wool when beezing was called, not unnaturally, 'beezing
rings'. Therefore it was with great delight that the room corporal always sent at
least one new apprentice to the NAAFI with strict instructions to get a tin of 'size
One beezing rings'.
We honed our time and motion skills so that we could lay a bed
until the very last moment and yet be on parade neat as a pin at the desired time.
This skill will ever elude the ordinary civilian. Unfortunately there were among
us two or three whose ability to acquire these new skills was somehow impaired. They
were mostly academically fit, for even the 'Borstal Boys' had to pass the entrance
exam and physical. Nevertheless, I recall one lad who never mastered the art of beezing
or looking smart. He suffered untold agonies of rebuke from all and sundry because
one man's idleness, lack of ability or simple ineptitude, let down the whole room.
The youngster just mentioned was entirely uncoordinated and forever late, never properly
dressed when it mattered and whose time management was off key all of the time we
knew him. In the end we helped get him and his gear ready for important parades but
were wise enough to let him be at other times, so that he was punished by having
to do the menial tasks, like cleaning the toilet bowls that we didn't particularly
like. Yes. I know! Not very nice, was it? Yet expediency ruled the day.
The physically
weak and essentially shy youngsters, of whom I was one, were bullied by others who
generally speaking used this method to hide (or compensate for) their academic or
sporting inability. It seemed to me, that to be really good at anything posed a threat
to someone in the group, in the Company or the School. As 'new boys' we were fair
game for anyone senior to us. We were forced to press uniforms, bull boots and undertake
other tasks under threat of a beating. By which I do not mean schoolboy whacking
with a stick but a beating with fists and not from just the person wanting the task
done, but from his pals as well. We were often raided just after lights-
Later the games
became more dangerous, such as being blindfolded and hanged. This entailed standing
one on a bedside locker and passing a rope around the neck and over the beam. The
victim was blindfolded and asked for any requests. This was done in a bullying and
frightening manner. Unseen was the piece of cotton tied to the rope and to the beam.
When the bedside locker was kicked from under one, the resultant puddle of fright
and wet clothing was another cause for hilarity and story spreading through the AAS.
My particular event was to push a shoe polish tin lid with my nose, along the length
of a senior intake's room whilst they all took turns at seeing who could throw a
dart closest to the tin. I shudder to think of the stupidity and danger this 'sport'
engendered.
Certain persons, who cannot be named as I have unfortunately forgotten
them, made the rounds of junior rooms throughout the camp a day or two before pay
day (generally on a Tuesday or Wednesday) demanding money with menaces. We were forced
to give up saved sweets and if permitted to smoke, our cigarettes and our few pennies
left over from payday. Any complaints were unpleasantly dealt with. These men, for
by that time they were men, collected a lot of cash to provide themselves with cigarettes
and beer. Although apprentices were officially prohibited from entering public houses,
this did not stop those determined to drink.
At a certain stage in our time at the
AAS we were permitted to wear civvies, called Mufti, from Two Div up to and including
Five Div. In the last term, that is to say when in Six Div, approved civilian clothes
were permitted. In those early days it seemed to us that more than a few Senior Div
found it necessary to add their standing in the AAS and to their masculinity, to
be seen as deliberately flouting the regulations. Sure, we all bent the rules somewhere
along the line, but there is a line to be drawn.
I managed to avoid much of the confrontation and bullying that took place in the
early days of training. Generally speaking we were well guarded by the school system
that gave extra care to First Div intake. Once we were assigned to Companies after
the basic period of six months, much less visible protection was available. I think
some must have hated almost every waking minute during their apprenticeship. I was
one of those unfortunate types that attracted the attention of bullies and mean spirited
people. It was difficult at times, but one learned to cope with it, ignore it and
carry on. Somewhere in my psyche I have the scars. But back to the basic training
period, which was six weeks long and full of repeated foot drill. This and other
tasks kept us fully occupied from dawn to dusk, taking their toll in terms of fatigue,
as we fell asleep as soon as our heads hit our pillows.
The initial training phase,
which came as no surprise or difficulty to me, was completed without having once
been bawled out or corrected for drill, dress or bearing. That alone was enough to
get me noticed, not by the drill staff but by certain fellow pupils who thought it
wrong that this skinny, short (5ft 4in) gawky underweight (1241bs) toad should be
better at this new game than they were. In fact anyone who had been an army cadet
fared well, as can be expected, as we had the advantage of experience at foot and
weapon drill.
Having chosen the trade of Armourer, the authorities were not about
to let me loose among weapons until certain basic engineering skills were learned.
This involved much filing of raw pieces of metal into what were at best useless end
products. However, a little thought could determine that the end product if diligently
done, would teach us some essential hand fitting skills. For example, the filing
up of a simple rectangular plate was to teach us the use of various files and the
engineering tri square. The finishing of a cube comprising four filed flat sides,
one scraped and one hacksawn surface was to impart the skills required to file, scrape
and hacksaw. Naturally none of us ever achieved perfection or even came remotely
close in those early days.
And so from August 1956 until June 1959, I was at AAS Arborfield,
learning the theory and practise of becoming an Armourer. At the beginning there
were 23 aspiring Armourers and by the time I passed out as an Armourer 3rd Class,
there were nine of us left. The remainder had been discharged as incompatible with
the trade or Army life, or relegated to repeat a particular term's work, changed
trade or simply had their parents purchase their discharge. As for me, despite the
threat that I was unlikely to make the grade, I finished an overall third in my class.
I must admit that I took to the trade like a duck to water. I will admit struggling
with the academic side of things.
There were good times and bad times throughout the
term of the apprenticeship. We weren't paid a lot of money, but then no one in government
service ever is. To me it was money I'd never had. We were only permitted to draw
so much a week. The upper limit was determined by the division in which you were
in, so that when I was in 1 Division I got 3/6d from the 31/6d wage. Some being tax,
some being an allotment to parents and some to a Post Office Savings Book account.
The last two were encouraged to the point of being an order. Of the remaining, you
drew your 3/6d and the rest stayed in 'credits' and were paid out in full when one
went on leave. This meant that there was a pocketful of money available at these
times.
This method of forced saving had its downside. There were loan sharks in the
AAS who charged anything up to 50% per week for a loan. It has been known for some
poor sod to pay all his leave pay over to the loan shark. Bullyboys heavily enforced
repayment. However, over a period of time we learnt to blend in with the prevailing
culture at the AAS. Anyone who lived outside the 'code' was given the silent treatment
or beaten up or both.
In those days we were issued with a minimum of three of everything,
meaning pairs of socks, underwear, shirts, etc. This meant that on any given day
there was one set in the locker, one set at the laundry and one set on your body.
When I think about it I could shudder. Today we are used to changing every day. In
those days we didn't because you were only allowed to send so many articles into
the laundry. I think it was ten items. If you wanted to submit extra underwear, then
you sacrificed something else. Ten items was the inviolable rule.
Most of us had nothing
more than the clothes issued to us. We were not permitted to wear civilian clothing
for the first six months and thereafter only Mufti, comprising grey flannel trousers
with a minimum width of the trouser bottoms of 18 inches and with turn-
When we were assigned to companies, following the necessary passing out parade after
basic training and the initial six months in 1 Div, I was assigned to B Company where
I remained for the rest of my apprenticeship. Our CSM was Sgt Maj Dunning (Devon
& Dorset Regiment), whom we referred to as 'Daddy Dunning'. Daddy wasn't given to
the normal run of bad language that we were subjected to on a daily basis. This was
because, as far as we could ascertain, Daddy had come to us from a stint at Sandhurst,
where of course it was not on to use bad language to the young gentlemen.
Regularly
throughout the term we were given progress tests, the results of which were posted
on a special board situated next to the chief instructor's office door, so that individual
progress could be seen. I'm pleased to say that it was a rare time when I didn't
figure in the first half dozen and then often in the first four. This was due to
a genuine interest in the subject more than academic ability. After all, it was a
memory feat, and yet that same memory so often let me down in maths and other subjects.
It paid off, because in 1990 I was appointed South Africa's theory examiner for Gunsmiths.
We
progressed through rifles, pistols, submachine guns, machine guns, Mortars and so
on. At the time of my apprenticeship we were still taking lessons in the old .38m
No2 Enfield revolver, the .303in No l and No 4 rifles, the Vickers machine gun, the
Bren light machine gun and the Sten submachine gun. The mortars were 2in and 3in
models. All very well, one would think, but the problem was that the army was changing
over to newer weapons of which we saw none, to speak of. Still the repair skills
didn't go to waste as some units remained with older equipment for some time. Meanwhile,
we were still working our way through the old and tried syllabus.
I cannot remember
with any accuracy all of the small arms instructors involved in my training at Arborfield.
The Officer in charge of the Armourers workshop was a Major Viney, something of a
champion pistol shot. Mr Morris(Jr) was the senior instructor and his elder brother
Mr Morris(Sr) taught us all about the Lee Enfield rifles. A Mr Riley had the machine
gun section and apart from Sgt John Downes, I can remember no others. Sgt Downes
figured later in my career as my boss. At the time of my apprenticeship he was in
charge of the support weapons section and took us through the Mobat recoilless rifle,
Mortars, the Vickers tripod and other items I cannot recall. John Downes became a
firm friend in later years. He is retired now and living in Canberra, Australia.
One
of the small pleasures during my apprenticeship was the morning tea break at 1000
hours. I still enjoy the same break at the same time seven thousand miles away, in
a different country, in a different uniform. During summer months it was always tea,
in the winter it was cocoa, which we fetched in a large urn, picked up at the cookhouse
and hauled back on a four-
The fact of gaining good marks in one's chosen trade could
lead to the unjustifiable charge of Juicing'. This term derived from 'sucking up
to teacher'. So, as can be seen, the culture of the times deemed it unmanly to be
good at anything other than sports. I suppose this stems from the fact that most
there were not of the highest academic standards in school and all from working class
backgrounds where academic ability was considered as suspect, not quite respectable
in a working class family.
Of course, there were apprentices of good education and
ability. One could not, for example, hope to master the requirements of an Instrument
Mechanic without some mathematical skills or the syllabus of the Radar Mechanics
or electronic Control Equipment Mechanics (Ecce Mechs, to us) as early electro/mechanical
computer personnel were called, as they were trained to service and repair machinery
such as the artillery predictors.
Trades were grouped according to the degree of academic
ability required, whether mechanical, electro/mechanical or purely mathematical for
electronic work. Thus the top trades were X trades, followed by A, B and C. The pay
scales (once qualified) were thus different. An Armourer was an A trade and so at
the very least I was considered potentially capable of mastering the necessary skills.
As it turned out, I did.
Try as I might, I couldn't always divorce myself from the
undercurrent of bullying and victimisation that was prevalent. I understood then
as now, that at that kind of institution such things could never be entirely eradicated.
At sometime during the three years of apprenticeship, every boy would be subjected
to some form of bullying or intimidation. We accepted it as the norm and it readied
us for life in the regular army, as men.
My sporting life was of no great note. Having taken a dislike to contact sports during
my boarding school days, I opted for solitary sports like cross-
Running
as an activity, meant that I set my own pace and had time to think as I padded along.
I got fairly proficient and ran as a team member for B Company. The activity in which
I excelled the most was shooting. I held my own with the best. Indoor .22in target
shooting was my forte. I shot for the company and in postal shoots for the school
against AAS Chepstow and AAS Harrogate.
We were allowed out of the camp at weekends,
though there was a curfew for all. The more senior the later the curfew. Time away
from camp was valuable. Mostly it began after lunch on a Saturday as most Saturday
mornings were taken up with one parade or another. To leave camp one had to conform
to the dress code mentioned.
ome went to Reading, a relatively large town, but a bit
dearer in bus fares. It was cheaper to go to Wokingham, about four miles away. There
were dance halls and a cinema. As I was no dancer, a good scoff at a reasonable cafe,
followed by a browse around a bookshop or two and then 'pictures', followed in turn
by some window-
Wokingham left
no particular lasting impressions. Reading will always be associated with Ma Beasley's,
a small quiet cafe near the centre of town. It was almost like a converted front
room, and probably was, but the food was good and plentiful. For 2/6d we got two
fried eggs, chips, beans, sausages, a cup of tea and two slices of buttered bread.
After the hard fare of the cookhouse, this home cooking was wonderful and as I write
I can taste it again.
At some time or other I was talked into joining the Arborfield
Youth Club. At a small hall in the village there was a weekly dance where we could
play our favourite records without adults complaining of the noise. There we met
several of the village girls and made friends with one or two non-
Leave was a subject
close to the heart of all of us. So I believed, until I beard tales of orphans who
had nothing much to look forward to in this respect. Nevertheless, great excitement
could be felt as the term breaks came closer. We all estimated our pay out from credits
and made many verbal plans on how best to spend it. Clothes were an important thing
to us all, probably because of the restrictions to Mufti.
When the day came to be
paid, usually the day before proceeding on leave, we were all warned to guard our
cash carefully. Despite this someone sooner or later got robbed of all or most of
his money. The 'debt collectors' would be round that evening, asking or demanding
their money. To see colleagues near to tears, as they were relieved of their cash
was not a pleasant sight. We were philosophical about this. We didn't borrow from
the sharks, but rather amongst ourselves so we did not have to pay the exorbitant
interest rates, or promise to repay at leave time. Our attitude was that if you were
stupid enough to play their game, then you must be prepared to take the consequences.
Having
to travel in uniform meant that once we were home, we put it away until the end of
leave. I recall the day before the end of some leave when in two or three Div; I
hauled out my uniform to press it for the return to Arborfield. We were living at
the time with my grandmother, whose house was gas lit. As I normally used an electric
iron, my expertise with the gas iron was limited and I burnt the sleeve of my uniform
jacket. Panic set in, what was I to do? I couldn't travel with a burnt sleeve. Even
worse, I would be for it once back at camp. I didn't give a thought to the fact that
I might have received a sympathetic hearing from the CSM or the QM, etc. I simply
panicked. Fortunately, my mother's sister was a seamstress and to hand was my father's
uniforms and my uncle's, he being a WO in the TA, at the time. A shade cheek revealed
that one of Uncle George's battle dress blouses was a very close match in shade.
So using her magic, my aunt Bet removed the two sleeves and made me a new one from
the sleeve of George's battle dress blouse. When finished, there was a slightly noticeable
difference in the shade. For the next two years, no one ever remarked on it.
Leave was always enjoyed, but returning to camp was not. Although it was easy to
slip back into the routine, a few days at home always brought back the realities
of the rough and often crude conditions in which we lived when in barracks.
January
1959 saw the start of 56B's final term as apprentices. In this period I turned eighteen
and was put onto regular army pay. I had best explain. There were special rates of
pay for 'boy soldiers' that were applicable to us. However, on reaching the age of
17, or 18 (I forget which), you were put on Regular Army pay.
Despite the pay scale
a member was on, he was only allowed to draw a certain amount per week as explained
earlier. Naturally it meant that ones credits were quite high come leave time.
When
July 1959 came round I had passed the Class 3 Armourers practical test and passed
the theory to Class 2. Not that it helped any; because some time later, in Duisburg,
Germany, I had to sit the whole of the Class 2 test anyway, both theory and practical.
Having
successfully passed out of the Army Apprentices School, the first Regular Army unit
we went to was the REME Depot just up the road. The Depot was the holding place for
us until we were assigned a workshop. We kept our figurative fingers crossed in the
hope of a plum posting like Singapore, Hong Kong, Kenya, etc. We all knew that the
chances were slim, but we hoped. In the end most of us were posted to the British
Army of the Rhine.
But that's another story....
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