2nd Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment

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Recorded Interview 1
by
Pte. Alfred Raymond Mason 466698
2nd Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment

 

.....I was born on the 5th August 1923, if my memory serves me well that was the first time the Cup Final was held at Wembley, I lived at home, just an ordinary family with no problems at all. I got called up just before my 19th birthday, June 3rd, I didn’t have any choice, and on my birthday all my documents arrived. I think in April I had to report to Norton Barracks in Worchester on the 3rd June 42. When I arrived at the station there were these army trucks there with the drivers and N.C.O.’s and we had to sit in a truck until all the trains had arrived, some came from way up north, so we just had to sit, sit for hours, waiting for these people, but I say we got there, they walked us onto the parade ground and sorted us out, and then walked us to the mess hall, and gave us a knife, fork and spoon and we was able to have something to eat, we needed it, but anyway that was 42, that was. I had 12 weeks Infantry Training down in Worcester and after that I fortunately got picked for the Signals, I was quite happy about it, I enjoyed that actually.

.....I was on guard duty one night, and you was given the day off to prepare yourself, as you had to take your blanket’s across to the Guardroom, so we used the bottom half of an old pram to save carrying them. We were going down the road and I was sitting on top of about four blankets and me mates were pushing me, and theirs Prince Philip (The Duke of Edinburgh) and two or three other officers, they pushed me a bit too hard, I had a job stopping, but I managed to stop just a few feet short of him, and he turned around and looked straight at me, he didn’t say anything, he was wearing his Navy coat, this long dark blue overcoat, you know that came down to about a foot before the ground. I managed to stop just in time, else I don’t know what would have happened, I shall probably be still in there now.

.....I was a P.T.I. (Physical Training Instructor) for a little while, because I used to do a lot of Amateur Boxing actually, that stood me in good stead because I could handle myself a little bit. I think I was with the Royal Berkshire Regiment, down at Oxford, Brock Barracks, the Q.M.S. who oversaw the sports and so on, used to take me to the various places to fight, I used to travel to these places, I got three days extra leave, and he’d give me a ‘Fiver’, so I done well out of it, and I have to smile at it, at this one fight I had at some big Barracks there, with quite a big crowed watching us, so that was a good thing, I knocked him out in the first round. So had free travel down, food and they put me up overnight, give me a Fiver. I dare say it was wonderful.

.....I was up near Grimsby, I’m trying to think of the place; it was quite near to Grimsby I think it was where I was sent and from there of course they sent me abroad, they just called me up one day to get all me kit packed and everything else and be on the train. You didn’t know where you were going, you didn’t have time to tell anybody or time to write a letter, just packed yourself up, get on the train, and went up. We found out after it was Glasgow, then of course we got on the boat from there and we eventually finished up in India. I think we were the first ones, because we couldn’t go to the Mediterranean, they’d been that much going on there, that we had to go around the Cape, well I missed all that, because those who went around the Cape, went before me, the only reason I missed that trip was because I was waiting for my new set of false teeth, and of course the people in South Africa, where they pulled in for a couple of days, made quite a fuss of them, they picked them up from the boat and took them to their home, how I learnt this, was when I got to India the chap’s on the draft before us, told us about the wonderful time they’d had, and of course we went through the Mediterranean, and the Suez and you could see the ships that had been sunk in the Suez Cannel, and eventually on to Bombay, and then taken by a smaller boat with all our kit to land ashore close to the Jac Mahel Hotel. (Jai Mahal Palace Hotel).

.....Lord Mountbatten, (Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma ) before we were going into action; I have to smile to myself now; they lined us up in ranks of three, one facing forward, one to the left, and one to the right, in a horseshoe shape, and he’d stand on this box and your there, quite away from him, and he’d say, come on lads gather round me, and we all went forward, and I dashed forward, and I sat at his feet, looking up at him, and then he give us the old pep talk before I went into action, with the old Somerset’s and it was quite interesting, something I shall never forget. We boarded a train and arrived at Deolali Reinforcement Camp.

.....Well I was in about five different regiments, they were going into action, and I was at Doolally, (Deolali) depot in India, and they sent me out to them, at this time what had happened was, most of the Somerset Light Infantry were long serving soldiers, you know, seven and five years, so as I say, they’d probably done more than they needed as far as service abroad, so knowing they were going into action, they all got booked to come back to England, so it left the Somerset Light Infantry quite short to be honest with you, so what they had to do is get these chaps, like myself who’s come out to Doolally from England make their number up. So I ended up in the Somerset Light Infantry for six months in the Arakan. Being a signaller I had to be up with the, captain, major, or whoever was in-charge of the party, as I had got a telephone line back to the battalion so that were in constant contact with them all the time, especially when you went into action.

.....I’d like people to know, I’ve seen more of India than the Indian’s have. When you’re on a train in England and you go for what you think is a big journey; well in India you’re on a steam train for days on end, and you have to live off one throughout the journey, eat drink and sleep, and a funny thing, when you wanted to make your tea you used to get a tin box, make a handle out of string, or whatever’s to hand, put your tea, sugar and milk in the bottom, and you used to have to go up to the engine driver and ask for some hot water and of course they had to open up one of the trains valve’s and the hot water used to shoot out, you had to be so careful, and didn’t stand in the way, you had to wait until the water was coming through, and then put your tin in, if you put it there before, the force of the water coming through blew all your bloody tea awash, and you’d have to go back and tell all you’re mates what had happened; all these things, all my experience.

.....After being with the Somerset Light Infantry for six months in the Arakan, they came out and went on to Northwest Frontier, Bashar and later they had their own men come over from England. The Somerset’s march is a lot quicker, I think its 40 paces to the minute and ours is a good old 20, I think it is, anyway, as I say, they threw me out, I was no longer needed, but before that they got me a nice little job driving, I didn’t drive then so I had a Indian driver, and we were taking, from the hill station, the mail and whoever wanted to go down and what have you to the headquarters which was at Bashar, and then whatever they gave us I took back up, and halfway down there was the Dhobi-wallahs’ by the water, they did all the washing, they used a big stone and beat the clothes against it, and lay it all out in the sun to dry, and we would drop the washing off, then we’d pick them up again on our way back. From Bashar turning right from the hill station where we were, we went to my Indian drivers village and his dad was, dressed like the Indians of old he’d have like a flock coat on and a bit of a beard and he brought a big basket of peaches out and gave them to me, and of course I took them back to the lad’s and shared them between us, and they made us quite welcome. I went back to Doolally, at Doolally they said you can choose what regiment you want, I have to smile, they were all in action, so I didn’t have much choice and I don’t know how it came about that the Royal Berkshires had something to do with the Warwickshire Regiment, but there was no Warwickshire that I could see so I joined the Royal Berkshire Regiment just the same.

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Pte. Alfred Raymond Mason

Pte. Alfred Raymond Mason

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