Homeward Bound
In December, 1946 my demobilisation papers came through. I was group 47. (??)
In many ways this was just in time for rne. Educational and Vocational Training was due to finish at the end of the year and I would then have reverted to being a Leading Aircraftsman.
However, 28 Squadron was about to move to Singapore and it was suggested that I could teach at the family school there and be made up to a Flying Officer. Apparently I was the only person in the area quailified to teach junior school children!
However, because I came home, none of this was relevant.
The last few weeks at Kuala Lumpur were very memorable. The food in our mess was very pleasant but on Friday lunch-times they served fish and chips in the Airmen's Mess. This was absolutely unmissable, so we used to roll-up our sleeves to cover our stripes and queue with everyone else (Cheeky buggers!!).
Also on Fridays there was a morning parade. Luckily, the day that I was supposed to take it, it rained and so it was cancelled.
We had a splendid Christmas and on the 28th of December I had to catch the night-train to Singapore.. Half 28 Squadron came onto the platform to see me off, they even brought a propellor (two bladed!). For me it was an experience that I shall never forget.
I arrived at Singapore and spent several days at the Transit Camp at Tengah; then we embarked on the Queen of Bermuda.
The journey home took four weeks, we stopped at Bombay for several days and I had another lookat the city.
As I have said, when I cane out on the Stratheden I was on 'U' deck and Officers and N.C.O.s were in cabins. This time I thought that I would be in a cabin but the whole ship was full of NCOs, so we were back to the hammock bit again!
I knew the projectionist in the cinema; in fact we spent much of our day in the projection room. We had a pair of braces fixed to the wall so that we could see how much the ship was rolllng. I decided to sleep on the seats in the cinema. It was quite warm and comfortable (and much nearer the toilets when the weather turned colder!).
Coming back towards Gibraltar one could see the white peaks of the Sierra Nevada mountains in southern Spain, but we were experiencing the worst storm in the Med for eIghteen years.
There was a small convoy of vessels on either side pitching up and plunging nearly vertically so that one could see the propellers going round. We were doing the same.
We arrived at Liverpool at about four o'clock on a Sunday afternoon. It was dusk and the whole area was covered in two inches of newly fallen snow. There was no one in sight; we were back in England.
We went to RAF. Wharton, where we were given civilian suits and overcoats. We were paid off and given Travel Vouchers to return home.
It was February, 1947. It was very cold, but I was a free man after four and a half years.
Hope you enjoyed Dad's RAF memoirs. He was actually classified as 10 percent disabled later due to his ulcerated ankles, which as I've said before, gave him gyp for the rest of his life.
He was an ordinary bloke, but like many others at this time he did an extraordinary job.
When I was about 15, I had read Spike Milligan's book 'Adolf Hitler, His Part in My Downfall.' In it Milligan said that despite the fact the war years cost him his mental health, it was the happiest time of life. I asked Dad if the war his time in the RAF had been his happiest. To my mum's amazement, he said, "Yes."
I remain so proud of him.