National service

[Gerry 10]

after two&half yrs out i was as black as one of the locals i just never got sunburn (got a bit of skin damage in later yrs) ,coming back into camp & dressed only in P.T shorts,a new bunch of lily white n,s had just arrived in camp so doing my duty i griped them with heroic tales of the desert i later did learn one of them had gone up to my mate &said can't that w*g over there speak bloody good english.

 

You could tell which regiment a native worker had worked for to learn english, by his accent. It was really strange to hear the dhobi wallah speaking with a broad Scottish or Yorkshire accent.

[flyer 10]

You could tell which regiment a native worker had worked for to learn english, by his accent. It was really strange to hear the dhobi wallah speaking with a broad Scottish or Yorkshire accent.

 

yes the first time i heard the young kids with their Scottish accent i thought they was taking the micky, untill one the ships crew told me they'ed been brought up with the Scottish engineer's who had been service the canal for ever

[flyer 10]

Interesting that PopT, the concept of living off the land. It reminded me, once more in Egypt, of a night when three of us had been down Fanara to a beer garden called the Olympia. We were walking back thro' the local village and passed a place that Cliff, one of the lads, said he knew sold food. Well, we'd had a few bottles of Stella (litres that is) and we were feeling a bit peckish. So, we leapt in.

Even with all the beer in us, it still felt a bit dodgy, it was an Arab place after all. There was a half dozen locals, (notice I'm trying to avoid the pseudonym W**) and they were playing some kind of card game.

Anyhow the main man brought us steak, egg and chips. The steak was perfection, not big you understand, but melt in your mouth. Five piastres each, everybody happy.

Trouble was, about a week later, myself and another kid were walking thro' the village and passed the Arab cafe. It was like a butchers shop/cafe type business. A carcass of some animal hung outside, covered in flies, and at that moment the bossman came out, cut a chunk of meat off, and instantly the fresh bloodied area was covered in flies.

I never went in there again.

 

you have to admit it was much better than army food apart fm a few meals in the local Italian eatery(& they were still not to happy we pushed them out of N-Africa) the first real &safe meal we had in 3yrs was when we got to Tripoli,& served up by the good old U.S.A ,those yanks sure could put on a spread for their troops.

[Texas 10]

You're absolutely right flyer. I once had the biggest steak I'd ever seen in a PX in Kaiserslautern, Germany. It's very easy to exaggerate about things like this, but it must've been at least 12''x 9''. A 'T' bone, naturally. And fries. Apple Pie a la mode to follow.

But Gerry mentioned Camels. Oddly enough, during my time in Egypt I saw about three. It was all big gas guzzler autos and Dodge, Mack, and Peter Bilt trucks. I remember once me and another guy went out into the desert and saw a whole string of camels. They were upside down and mere shadows on the horizon, it was a mirage.

[flyer 10]

You're absolutely right flyer. I once had the biggest steak I'd ever seen in a PX in Kaiserslautern, Germany. It's very easy to exaggerate about things like this, but it must've been at least 12''x 9''. A 'T' bone, naturally. And fries. Apple Pie a la mode to follow.

But Gerry mentioned Camels. Oddly enough, during my time in Egypt I saw about three. It was all big gas guzzler autos and Dodge, Mack, and Peter Bilt trucks. I remember once me and another guy went out into the desert and saw a whole string of camels. They were upside down and mere shadows on the horizon, it was a mirage.

the farther south you got the more camels, we got almost to Chad &we would see strings of camels doing their trek east to west &in Kufra,the Beds (forget how its spell) would ride in on their fantastic horse's all dressed in solid gold bead the rider's all wore swords with ruby's etc set in the handle ,thought we'd landed up on a film set (we said yes Sir to all of them) Sieda kefallek inter

[Texas 10]

Apart from the mechanical modes of transport, there were a lot of donkey/mule carts also.

The carts were like large boxes on quite an assortment of wheels. Generally though the 'felaheen' were dirt poor. I often wonder just what the impact, financially, was on the local population when the military finally pulled out of the Middle East.

I remember an incident at Fayid one time. There was a cinema on the main Treaty Road, cinema is something of a overstatment, it was constructed of lath and plaster stuffed with straw, in other words a firetrap. But I'm getting off the tale. Behind the cinema was a large area of bare ground and one afternoon a guy turns up, with his mule cart, bint, and kids, spread a blanket and started selling bits and pieces of crappy jewellry, etc. Next day there was another, day after that another, then a few more. Bye the end of the week there were hundreds of one man traders all selling and buying. You could dine down there if you wanted to risk it, but it was like finger eating and mopping up with bread. Anyhow, the police cleared them all off after a while. Word went round that an HL Infantryman had sold his rifle.

[Kiwi Guy 10]

Hey all

This seem like the right Thread to be adding to.

My Fathers Family lived in Sheffield before emigrating to New Zealand, My grandfather served in Benghazi, Haifa etc after WW2

1947-49 then then Emigrated in 1951. I believe he served as a signalman /Linesman/Radio relay repairman with Royal Corps signals However dont know much more than this. If anyone out there Remembers a James or Jim Downing just add to the thread.

His uncle Bill (william) Downing served with Y & L Regiment in WW1 but I cant work out which Battilion he was with. if anyone has any information that would be great!

[Kiwi Guy 10]

Opps I forgot he mentioned some scotsman who was the cook over there who was continually drunk and burned everything

this might bring some memories back cause no one like burnt Scran!

 

Ubique

[poppins 10]

I joined the W.R.A.C. in the 50s, hoped to get posted overseas after training but stayed in Egland. I was asked to be some sort of "Poster Girl " for the new WRAC recruitment poster, I jumped at the chance, until they told me I had to sign on again for another 3 years

[Harleyman 12]

The army had a good money making racket going on bed mattresses. I was stationed up country in Malacca, Malaya and was sent down to Singapore on a month long course. Had to turn in my bedding to the QM Store before I left. When I returned to my unit I drew a new issue of bedding and being tired from the heat and a long train journey from Singapore to Tampin and then a truck ride to the unit didn't bother to check out the mattress at time of issue. Came the day a few months later when I turned in the bedding before leaving for demob and was told by the QM that there was a small stain on the mattress and I would be held responsible for it. Went up before the battery adjutant and told him in no uncertain terms that I had left bed wetting behind at the age of two and was in no way responsible for the mattress stain. He didn't want to listen and I didn't want to argue further and jeopardiize my departure for home and ended up having to pay for the mattress. I knew that the mattress would be reissued to some other unsuspecting soldier. Always wondered how many more got dinged because of that stain.

[Texas 10]

Gerry, regarding John Hartle. So I'd got this new camera,and fancying myself as a bit of a hotshot, had gone to a horse trials down at the Olympia in Fayid hoping to get some good shots. So I'm having a beer, next thing I feel a tap on the shoulder and a voice ' Na'then kid, ah tha' gooin on?' It was John, all decked out in Marine uniform, two stripes and all the business. Anyhow we had a few more beers and he came back to 3GHQ with me for something to eat then we hit the Olympia beer garden for the Stella.

We had a good old booze up and chat. He was in the service for 22years, I mean that was impressive for a start. The Olympia started to fill up, the vast majority being Paras and HLI.

Quite a potent mix.

A few of John's crowd rolled in, well p****d. So there I was in the middle of a bunch of drunken marines, the only member of the Royal Signals for miles, only two weeks to do and when somebody chucked a bottle, seeing Colchester appearing on the horizon.

Shots were fired, some lunatic marine I think, and it all kicked off.

Hartle shouted 'C'mon, let's get out', at the same time clobbering somebody and then running bodily at a 8foot fence. It didn't give way at first, but both of us battered away at it a couple of times and it did. Military Police were in there so there was no chance of getting out the main door. So that's the last time I saw John Hartle. I can only say I hope he had a long and illustrious career in the service and a good life. Oh, and I lost my paybook somehow and got put under open arrest. But that's another story.

[Gerry 10]

Gerry, regarding John Hartle. So I'd got this new camera,and fancying myself as a bit of a hotshot, had gone to a horse trials down at the Olympia in Fayid hoping to get some good shots. So I'm having a beer, next thing I feel a tap on the shoulder and a voice ' Na'then kid, ah tha' gooin on?' It was John, all decked out in Marine uniform, two stripes and all the business. Anyhow we had a few more beers and he came back to 3GHQ with me for something to eat then we hit the Olympia beer garden for the Stella.

We had a good old booze up and chat. He was in the service for 22years, I mean that was impressive for a start. The Olympia started to fill up, the vast majority being Paras and HLI.

Quite a potent mix.

A few of John's crowd rolled in, well p****d. So there I was in the middle of a bunch of drunken marines, the only member of the Royal Signals for miles, only two weeks to do and when somebody chucked a bottle, seeing Colchester appearing on the horizon.

Shots were fired, some lunatic marine I think, and it all kicked off.

Hartle shouted 'C'mon, let's get out', at the same time clobbering somebody and then running bodily at a 8foot fence. It didn't give way at first, but both of us battered away at it a couple of times and it did. Military Police were in there so there was no chance of getting out the main door. So that's the last time I saw John Hartle. I can only say I hope he had a long and illustrious career in the service and a good life. Oh, and I lost my paybook somehow and got put under open arrest. But that's another story.

 

That is so funny Texas, I knew that John had joined the Marines but lost touch after that. I think that was a time when we thought we were indestructable. I was in Fayed 1954/1955 and the nickname for the regiment was the Young & Lovelies which caused a lot of conflict in Fayed. By the way did you ever get your General Service Medal for service in the Canal Zone? I got mine 50 years later.