National service

[herbiegrass]

My Dad was sent to India during his NS. he was stationed at Chaubattia near the Himalayas,his brother was stationed in Egypt.

I still have my dad's diary from his time there.

[fleetwood]

If the Forum guys are looking in on this Thread and my Posting, could you please explain something. I started this Thread up again, got a reply from Flyer on my quote, now cannot find any reference to my Post or his answer, what's happening? fleetwood

[flyer]

If the Forum guys are looking in on this Thread and my Posting, could you please explain something. I started this Thread up again, got a reply from Flyer on my quote, now cannot find any reference to my Post or his answer, what's happening? fleetwood

For some reason its been added to another N.S thread that just been started ??:confused: PS go down about 10 threads

Edited July 29, 2013 by flyer
add

[fleetwood]

Thanks flyer! fleetwood

[flyer]

Thanks flyer! fleetwood

 

No problem at least your post did show up I've had many of mine just vanish, always put it down to their end of week trips for half a pint of bitter at the "Rovers Return"when you mix it in with your medication all sort of strange things go on :hihi:

[Manxdeedah]

Joined RAf when I was just old enough at 17 and half,Jan 1960. Got the Queens shilling at Cardington,square bashing at Bridgnorth,trade training at Kirton Lindsey,4 years on a missile base in Norfolk,2 and half years at Changi Singapore,demobbed at Scampton Lincs 1968. Quite a lot of NS deferments still going in when I was square bashing,poor sods.

In answer to the Bedford query.The Bedford 3- tonner could carry 3 tons,and was known int RAF as the Bedford RL. In civvie street it was known as an "S" type.

[flyer]

thats right Bedford its been a long time i forgot the name,on return from Libya was sent to Christchurch (beamed radio)took out a whole bunch of brand new Bedfords never even heard of blocks iceing up just never got that cold in U.K right, no wrong in the morning all the trucks had cracked blocks we had to stay in our tents for 3 days untill we was rescued never been so cold in my life, we just was not use to below 32 after all we had just come back from the hotest temp on record at that time 140 in the shade and NO shade

[Texas]

Thanks for that info' on the 'Bedford 3 Tonner' Manxdeedah. The U.S equivalent was gigantic but was only 21/2 tons, it must've been the design.

However, to get to grips with the activity known as 'gripping'. Everybody did it, it was a way to appear superior to anyone who had just arrived and was a bit green. My intake at Catterick was 51-13 but after two or three days I finished up in Catterick military hospital with tonsillitis. I got out of there and did my basic with the 51-14's. Boy, was I the old soldier.

Anybody remember the term 'red arse'. That was the term used to anyone who had got less than 3 months in the Middle East. Or 'gash bod'. Somebody who really hadn't got any significance at all. Or 'sh*t bint', the derogatory term for an Arabian woman. There was a lot of terms based on Arabic that sometimes I find myself using after all this time. Just goes to show how much impact National Service had on a generation of lives.

But to get back to the term 'gripping'. Present day 'birders' or 'twichers' use it when they've seen a rarity and want to impress somebody who ain't.

Edited July 29, 2013 by Texas

[fleetwood]

When I got demobbed at Newton Abbot in Devon my number 51-23 the last group to get out would have been in December 1953. We had landed near London that morning, then train to the demob centre in Devon, which would have got us in late that evening and where it was definitely dark. We still had to line up to get documented with kitbags piled high on the ground, incidentally there was more of this the next day and we didn't leave for home for a few day's and here we were thinking we'd get out the next day at least. I'm eluding to a little terrible side story, many people that spent time abroad wanted to bring gifts back for relatives, loved ones and so on and they usually had all there gifts and memorabilia in beige embossed leather hold-all bags, which they had obtained at great cost and had carried these treasures around for months or years while adding to their collections and I might add with nothing happening to their prizes that were at times left in tents or taken on patrols and mock warfare while overseas. When they were told to leave all their gear in heaps outside while going inside and going through all the documentation and BS on a cold blustery night in December at Newton Abbott, returning outside I'm sorry to say some people found all their prized possessions gone. The Army did nothing (as if they would), It must have happened time and time again over a whatever period and a great shock to those involved. It must have been a racket and inside job that went on for a very long time that left a lot of mad disgruntled young men, some even crying with frustration.

Edited July 29, 2013 by fleetwood

[Texas]

Get some in, Get some in Get some in. Advice, don't buy the flashy, leather, hold halls to bring your gear back into the UK. This is a grip.