Part 5: August 1945 - July 1946

August 1945

“We were all given a month’s leave, the first ‘proper’ leave I’d had in 2 ½ years as I’d spent the previous one in hospital. When we came back to camp we had to parade the next day; this was the last time with all the guns. We stood in a field in two columns and the guns were driven past in a long line. It seemed unusually quiet. When my gun went past I went very cold. I suddenly realised how lucky I was to still be alive. None of us spoke, we just stood there, probably all thinking the same thoughts. The Major gave the order to stand down, and although we never saw the big guns again we still had to keep our rifles and Bren guns. The next day all the regiment moved out.

The 36th LAA were disbanded and the first to go were the 1st East Surreys, who had been in India four months before I got there. I was one of about 50 who had been with them right through, but we couldn’t sail for home with them as we had to do another four months in India. We were a bit upset not to all stay together. Even the regulars said we should all go home together as we had been in Burma just as long as they had.

We were told we wouldn’t be sent back to Burma, and were split into small groups. Some were sent to the docks in Bombay. I was sent to ENSA in Calcutta, some of my colleagues there were:

Capt. R L CRUTCHLEY of Bowdon, Cheshire
Sgt Harry SILVERMAN (RAF) of Bow, London
Derek CLEWS of Londonderry
Jack WALKER of Lawford, Essex

My job was to escort civil servants to work, as during the riots anyone working for the British government was likely to be attacked. There were thousands of people fighting in the streets, sometimes Hindu against Muslim, sometimes either or both against the British. It seemed a bit much after what we’d been through keeping the Japs away from them.

It got so bad that our rifles were replaced with revolvers. At this time I was promoted to Acting Sergeant, although I was still only paid for two stripes. Most of the troops were in ‘Fort William’ which was a big peacetime army barracks. Three of us had to stay in a hotel where the civil servants were living, to protect them.

I also had 40 ‘coolies’ working for me. They were a great crowd and would do anything for me. They used to call me Sgt Sahib. One of the Muslims, called Lal Ba Harri, was a carpenter. He made me a cigarette box and a jewellery box out of a block of Burmese teak, with my initials carved on the lid.

I went sick again and had to report to the M.O. He was a young officer who had just come out to India. I said I thought it was a relapse of the malaria. He didn’t think so, but sent me to the hospital anyway. The doctor there agreed with me, and told me that the M.O. had put in my notes that it was a ‘common cold’.

I was in hospital for a full week, and when I came out it was back to trying to survive the riots. We were stoned and attacked with anything that was to hand. They burned our lorries, and after one man was tied to the back of a lorry which was then set on fire, we were told never to stop.

When the four months were up I was called into the office as my papers had come through to go home. I was asked if I would stay on for another six months, made up to Staff Sergeant, and in charge of the whole workshops and transport. I would also be substantiated, so I would come out of the Army on a full Staff Sergeant’s pay. If I didn’t stay on I would have to give up my stripes and revert to being a Gunner, although if I’d had the stripes for six months I’d have been a substantiated Corporal. I decided I’d far rather go home than stay on for a few stripes.

The last day in Calcutta I loaded all my kit on a 15cwt lorry at the workshops. All the Indians came out and started chanting ‘very good boss’. I had to shake all their hands, some didn’t want to let go and were almost crying. Finally I managed to get in the truck, and I sat in the back and waved till they were out of sight.

I arrived at a transit camp near Bombay, to be kitted out for the voyage home. when I’d come out of Burma my shorts and shirts had been rags, and I’d had to get some green khaki material from the stores and have it made up. I was given a pair of trousers and a tunic to wear back to England; they felt like rough blankets.

I eventually arrived at Bombay docks and boarded the ‘Georgic’. After a few hours we set off for Liverpool. Conflicting emotions swept over me as I watched Bombay disappear into the distance...

Two days out, there was panic stations as someone on board was thought to have smallpox. We all had to be inoculated — I had mine at around 2am — and part of the top deck was cordoned off. The patient was taken off at Port Said, and after another three weeks we arrived at the Mersey Bar. We couldn’t go any further till everyone on board had been checked by a doctor, and were told to see our own doctor as soon as we got home. At last we were allowed up the river and I got my first sight of the Liver Buildings in over three years. After a short period of leave, during which I got married, I was posted to Woolwich and was finally demobbed on 12th July 1946 — almost four years to the day since joining up.”

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