Hello Mac,
What a lot of questions!
I did not join straight from school as the last school I went to was The British School,Suez,Egypt.
I did my training at the National Sea Training School, Gravesend and only did a couple of years before joining the army.
Did not get too far, mainly Canada including a couple of trips into the Hudson Bay and a trip to Galveston and all the main ports on the continent of Europe.
Tom
Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2009 11:18 am Post subject: Lads in the MN
Hello Tom and Mac,
When we were at Garets Hey Tom, do you remember a lad called Tony Oram? He and I were the only two in our squad/class who could read morse. He did his at a radio school someplace and I did mine at the Fishermans Collage in Grimsby. I went on trawlers as you know but Tony had done 'big boating' and I believe finshed up on one of the Queens. I seem to remember that we both made our first recieving mistake when we'd got up to about fifteen WPM and what a cheer went up in the classroom. Teacher was a Jock who's only conversation up to that point was 'three vick eddies and read'
Hello Brian, Yes I remember Tony very well. He had been a radio op on some of the liners but I cannot remember which ones.
His mistake which he did on purpose was to write T instead of 0 in a figure test.
Not sure where he went after training but have never seem him again.
Tom
Tom & Brian
Just an outsider sticking my oar in -
I think Len South may have been a contemporary of yours and I understand he also was in MN. He was a great story teller and always a good entertainer during the 'quiet times'.
Ron
Len South, now there's a character, I new him at Munster. He was the only person I have ever met who would smoke a cigarette whilst having a shower. There is a photo of him on the Birgelen site. Smoking as usual.
Keith _________________ Keith Kerby (1955/6)
Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 8:25 am Post subject: Len South........................
Doesn't ring any bells with me Ron but seeing Munster was mentioned in the following post could be he was a bit before Tom and I's time...................
Len was a watch corporal in Munster and in the early days at Birgelin. I think he was made sergeant in late '55. As I mentioned, he was a good storyteller. If I've got the story right, he only joined the Rsigs after a run of bad luck. After leaving the MN he joined the RAF. When his service there ended he earned his living running a mobile fish and chip shop, which unfortunately caught fire and, being uninsured, put him out of business. His bad luck certainly enriched the lives of many NS men.
Yes Len did make Sergeant. I found myself on the same watch as him during one of my short stays at the Regiment. What I remember about Len is that he was a very talented guitarist.
Of course when one thinks of Len then there is the other Sergeant who I believe arrived in Germany around the same time, that being Paddy Montomery. Now who remembers Paddy?
Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 9:55 pm Post subject: Paddy Montgomery...................
Bob, I remember Paddy Montgomery very well. One night in Upstairs Shumans we had a rare visit from a bunch of Yanks from Helmstedt. We got along very well during the evening but all of a sudden Paddy decided that he didn't like the American Top/Sgt. Within seconds all hell broke loose and it finished up with the Yanks dragging their Sgt down the stairs vowing to return with the whole of their unit. Got to the ears of our CO at the time (Capt. Welton?) and he went across to Helmstedt and arranged that they would stay in Helmstedt and we would't go visit there. Don't remember going over there myself anyway. Don't recall ever seeing our 'cousins' ever again in 'slutter. Also seem to remember that him and Bill Bowles used to have a bit of a 'hate him love him' relationship going on. Sure of this one as Bill was my A Watch Cpl. and every time we went down town we had to keep an eye on him! Happy days.......................
Brian, I never did know why we were invited over to Helmstedt but I was amongst the few of us who went over there a number of occasions and to be honest I found the Yanks to be wonderful hosts. I'll never forget my first visit because that was the first time I'd encountered a T Bone steak. When the first steak arrived on the table I thought it was to be shared by all those sitting at the table. It came as a bit of a surprise to be told, "Hey that's yours" Certainly made a change from ACC pie.
Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 10:19 am Post subject: ACC Pie....................
Now there's a rave from the grave, ACC Pie known throughout the length and breadth of the British Empire!! Always remember at Langeleben going into the cookhouse to collect my supper after a five to mid, (or was it a four to mid?) at Rabke, and crunching across a carpet of cockroaches!! Supper always left wrapped in greasproof paper so a quick
shake of the parcel and off to the billet with a mug of lukewarm tea!........
You’ll all be pleased to know that the Langeleben cookhouse cockroaches were just as happy in their brand new accommodation. We got quite used to the annual fumigation, the line of anti roach paint round the wall shaking every bit of food before eating it. I do remember that all hell let loose when the NAAFI ladies moved into the building, they were horrified to be sharing bedspace with so many neighbours. Joe Johnson used to sleep in the cookhouse on a camp bed but armed himself with Gala bottles for self defence. We also adopted a kitten for a few days, but it couldn’t stand the competition, so went home with one of the Pad’s. All the best. Dave. _________________ Dave Thomas 2 Sqn 13 SR, '63-'66
It's sad, Bob, to read Sprog Thomas's winges about cockroaches!
We really "Old Langeleben" chaps can recall the time when conditions in the cookhouse were so bad that the cockroaches went AWOL. At least we didn't have to share the bacon sarnies with them. I still have the same love of them and one day I'll find someone who can make a 'Jam Butty Fritter' that can compare to those in my memory that Scouse used to produce.
I still tell the story of Scouse serving rice pudding in that shack and my complimenting him on having taken the trouble to put some nutmeg on the top. "That's not fookin nutmeg, that's fookin rust,you Git" replied an almost hysterical Scouse with that appalling toothless grin that he had. I wonder if he is still poisoning everyone or whether he has gone to the great Cookhouse in the Sky. I am finding in my advanced yeas that I think like that more and more. I went to a school re-union, meeting chaps whom I had been with in 1946 (yes, Dave, I am that old). All of those wonderful sportsmen we, in the 2nd form used to worship, now on wlaking sticks, Zimmer frames and wheelchairs.
Sic transit something or other Gordon. (Are you still with us????)
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Keith
