Stop it ,I love it !
Johnfairr, your Father will be smiling away somewhere. In the account so far I have been taken back 69 years as "plus ca change " etc, It was the same then as it is now. I think that he was very lucky to eventually get enlisted as aircrew under the Conscription Act as they could have sent him anywhere, even down the mines. It is why most people ,like myself volunteered as soon as they were able, on attaining 18 , in order to get the Service that you wanted. You had a slight advantage over the Interviewing Officer because you could say "No" and walk out if you were not offered the Service and trade that you wanted. From the age of 20 that "edge" disappeared. My Interviewing Officer did his utmost to persuade me that being a Navigator was the equivalent of the Islamic promise of a First Class ticket to an eventual Paradise of Houris and such delights but I , and this was not typical of me at the age of eighteen, stood my ground and said "I want to be a Pilot or I shall walk out ,Sir" (He was a fiery Group Captain!). Eventually he gave in and wished me luck and added "You are the only Jew that I have met that persecutes Christians. God Help us ! " and then started laughing. He would probably have been prosecuted in this Nanny State ,but I was cock a hoop . Your Father and I must have been around at the same time, as I enlisted around August 1940 but was not called up until October and then had to perform "Ground Duties" .....Euphemism for cleaning Sgts. Mess Bogs" until ITW Jan. 1941... Pages 13 onwards in pprune. It really is a fine thing that you are doing . All the very best,Regle.