-  148 Battery-68th Regiment / Royal Regiment of Artillery  -

"  CALL UP! "

The title "For Crown And Country" is on the National Service Blazer Badge

The normal age for being called up for National Service in Britain was eighteen. A small number were deferred for a couple of years to allow them to complete or finish their apprenticeships and perhaps college studies. The only way to escape National Service was by being unfit or going to work down the pits (coal mines)  My Dad had worked down the pits, he had been buried twice, and he said, "No lad of his was going to work down there!"

 After I left school at fifteen, I worked in a sickle factory. It was a dead end job, so I opted to go into the Army at eighteen. I wasn't looking forward to joining the Army! We all knew that it was for 2 years, and if war had broken out then, it would be for the duration of that War. Although I didn't have much of a job, the money wasn't too bad, and of course I had a girl friend of some three years standing. A blue eyed girl with the name of Pam.

I met Pam when I was fifteen years old, and she was 6 months younger than me. We were never apart. Rather than teenagers, we were more like Darby and Joan. We swore undying love for each other, and she told me she would, "Wait for me forever" when I went into the Army. Six months after I joined up she had met someone else, and by the time I had done my two years, she had married and was expecting twins no less!

Some young men joined the Royal Air Force. Very few were allowed into the Navy as National Servicemen, although I believe some did go in. I was sent for my Army medical on the 21st. of December 1951. We had to be at the Medical Board for 8:30 am. This was at Doncaster (the building is still there after fifty years. ) The first part was an aptitude test, simple mathematics, some writing and simple spelling tests. Then came the medical!

This was quite thorough. There were about thirty of us, and we were shown into a large hall where we were told to strip everything off and  put our clothes on a bench. We then formed an orderly queue, going into little cubicles to be examined by the various Doctors. There were nine Doctors in all. Quite a few young men would have moved heaven and earth not to be there!

National Service! One ruse was to pretend to be deaf;  "How long have you been deaf?" "What?"  ..."I said how long have you been deaf?"... "I can't hear you!"

The Doctor then points to the door, and the would be recruit walks out and begins to close the door. The Doctor calls out, "Leave the door open" ...and the chap replies, "OK" and pushes the door open! The Doctor says, "Get back in here!" That man passed Grade One (A1 in Army terms.) We saw one chap in front of us come out of the toilets frothing at the mouth; he'd been chewing and trying to swallow soap, to slow down his heart rate. He was violently ill. He passed A1 too!

One story I was told, was that a young man went for his medical wearing a truss. The Doctor said, "How long have you worn a truss?"  Young man says, "Five years sir."  "In that case" the doctor said, "It looks like M.E. for you." Young man says, "Medically Exempt?" Doctor says, "No...Middle East. If you can wear a truss upside down for five years... well you can ride a Camel."  You could never make up such stories!

We slowly moved around the hall until we eventually came to the place where we set off. We were told to dress and form another queue, where we were told if we had passed or not. I was given a brown card with 'Grade One' written upon it. So I had passed A1. We then had to wait and see an Officer, who decided where to place us. We had already indicated an interest in which Regiment we fancied, on a form we had to fill in earlier on. I would have liked to have joined the R.A.S.C. (Royal Army Service Corps.) I liked the idea of driving Army lorries. My second choice was the R.A.M.C. (Royal Army Medical Corps.)

The Officer said that if I signed on for three years or even five years, I could join what I wanted. I said No thanks! Three weeks later the dreaded War Office brown envelope arrived with a free travel warrant, and instructions to join 148 Battery-68th Regiment. (Royal Regiment Of Artillery.) This was stationed in Oswestry, Salop, Wales.

I didn't open the letter. Dad opened it, and greeted me from work with the news. I went out every night with my blue eyed Pam, and she cried every night as well! The last night of freedom soon came around, and we said goodbye...loads of tears, and with her cries of, "I'll always wait for you, John" ringing in my ears, we said farewell. How many National Servicemen were told by their sweethearts that no matter what, they would wait! Without going ahead of my story, in the first twelve months of service, nine girlfriends of squaddies in our barracks room, had written to say they had met someone else! Two of the lads went A.W.O.L. (Absent Without Leave) to see their girlfriends, only to be brought back by the Military Police.

The next day was January. 17th. 1952. I was up bright and early, as I was to catch the 7.30am train. Mum and Dad were already having breakfast, Dad was on the early shift 6am.-2pm. Mother always got up early to light the fire, especially in the Winter. I remember there was snow on the ground. Dad set off to work at 5.30am. We shook hands and with a, "Look after yourself" he went off to work. At 6.45 am. a friend of mine, Doug Raby, called for me. He had offered to see me off at the railway station. Doug himself was in the Army (East Yorkshire Regiment.) The following day he was due to be shipped out to Khartoum with his regiment.

My Mother was so upset. I was the youngest of three, having two elder sisters. A few tears were shed... and off I went! We walked to the station and the train soon arrived; hands were shook, and wishing each other "All the best" I got aboard the train for Oswestry. Incidentally I had to change three times before I arrived there! At each stop on the way to Oswestry, I noticed more and more young men like myself, filling up the train. We arrived at our final station,  and all alighted from the train. There and then, we knew that for the next two years our lives were not to be our own....