National service

[Texas]

Hi Texas, I found this post by accident and have just read it out over the phone to Gerry Booroff who is my husbands uncle. He was so chuffed and remembers Spanky Preston the same way you do. He was very interested to know who you were so if you wish to private message me please do

Hi, I would've put this in a private message normally, but my message boxes filled up a while ago so I don't bother trying anymore.

I was surprised and pleased to hear Gerry is still around, I hope he's in good health and all. Have you read all of the National Service thread? There are a few characters and anecdotes that Gerry might remember. I was trying to remember where I first got to know him, I thought it might have been in basic training at Vimy Lines, Catterick, but I'm not sure. His intake group was 51/14, mine was 51/13, but I did my basic with the 14's.

Certainly we were in the same lines in Egypt, In 1 Squadron,3GHQ. We arrived at the same time.

He was in the same tent as myself and had to put up with the same bull**** all newcomers always had to put up with. Ask him if he remembers a kid called Ashby, a very self opinionated Brummie. Someone used to call him 'Asinine' Ashby, I suppose because he was an ass. And his mate Alcott, who fancied himself as some kind of opera singer, especially Mario Lanza (who was very popular at the time). He would come into our tent to talk to Ashby, strike a pose, and sing (sotto voce), some sort of operatic aria. He was weird. There was a Lance Corporal, in charge of the tent, called Langley. He came from Biggleswade. And there was a Cipher Corporal called Urquhart, he came from Arran, the western Isles of Scotland. I eventually got moved into 2 Squadron with Transmitters so I didn't see a lot of Gerry after that. He would probably remember me as 'Yorky'.

The last time I saw him was in London, it must've been 1965 or so. I was at the top end of Whitehall just crossing the road, the lights changed and there was Gerry. We only had time to show recognition, then he was gone. Give him my best wishes and tell him to keep his guard up, there ain't many of us left.