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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.
Pte. Alfred Raymond Mason