Big ray

[Big ray]

 

This photograph was taken nearly 30 years ago when I (Stoke-on-Trent) and Ray W. (Halifax) travelled down to Brians family home on the outskirts of London. This visit to his home was the last one that we made before we lost him to the genetic complaint that took him from us. This photograph was taken just before we took him to the local pub for a drink, he could not manage to get out normally because of his condition. His speech was seriously impaired by this point, however we did manage to converse quite well, and the permanent smile on his face spoke volumes anyway. The next time that we went to his family home it was to carry his coffin, we still miss a very good friend. ( Brian is wearing the jacket.)

[Big ray]

When my "brother" Cyril was inducted into the army in early 1945 Germany were still at war. He was inducted into the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) by the time that he had completed his training in Northern Ireland Germany had capitulated, so he assumed that he would be going to the Far East to deal with the Japs, who were of course still at war.

However he found his company being sent to southern France, Toulon. He did not like that posting, he found the Vichy French to be very anti-british, in fact one of his friends was actually dragged from the cab of his truck after an accident involving a tram and his friends truck, the french crowd beat his friend to death. He moved from France in late 1945 to Hamburg, Germany. As everyone knows Hamburg was very heavily bombed, apparently many civilians jumped into the lake in the city and drowned in preference to the bombs, and lack of oxygen created by the fire storms. He and his friends watched one day in late `45 whilst they dragged the lake for bodies, many bodies were recovered, but they had all gone black, with the exception of one, which was white, they (He and his friends) assumed that this was very likely the body of someone who had been murdered a short time before and thrown into the lake. I suppose that such things must have gone on at that particular time. He was demobbed in 1948, by the time that I went to Germany in 1956 things had changed quite considerabely, I remember him telling me that you could have a woman for a pack of cigarettes, and not to get involved, but times had changed by the time that I got there.......... you needed two packs of cigarettes.

[Big ray]

Post WW2, before it became fashionable to build by-pass routes around town centres our town actually did have a by-pass road, but halfway around that road it had a crossroads, the road that crossed heading uphill into the town centre was elevated. This made the crossing like climbing over a barrier, commercial vehicles of any length could not use that crossing. There were several roads crossing the by-pass road into the town centre, but only that one posed a problem.

One of the roads that crossed into town was from the cattle market car park, this is where any overnight vehicles would park, including military vehicle, this was the car park where I and my friends had climbed into aircraft (damaged) during the war, often finding ordnance. The road leading from the car park into the town centre was actually constructed with cobblestones, they had always been a problem, even for horse drawn carts, they were slippy. One day whilst I was walking into town a Diamond "T" complete with Rogers trailer and loaded with a tank had just left the car park and was heading up this road into town to continue his journey. I could not believe that he was going to attempt to climb that cobblestone hill up into town. The inevitable happened, he got approximately halfway up before he lost all purchase on the cobbles. He now had to un-hook the trailer and turn the D/T around in order to nose the trailer back down the hill, and take an alternative route. I watched, along with what now had become a rather large crowd, whilst he hooked-up.

I knew that if he got it wrong once that he started to descend the hill, he would not be able to pull himself back up the hill to correct that mistake. He did start to get it wrong and had to unhook again and reposition the tractor to correct his mistake. By this time I had to leave the scene to get to my destination, I know that I had to be on time, but I cannot for the life of me remember where I had to be...... it was a long time ago. I do remember walking back later expecting that he may have been in in serious trouble, but he had obviously succeded in his effort to extracate himself, he had gone........... I bet that he told his fellow D/T drivers to avoid that road like the plague.

[Big ray]

I bumped into an old school friend of mine from the 1940s, we had quite a long conversation about what life had been like for us in those early days. He then chuckled, and reminded me that when we used to build trolley`s in them days (A trolley was constructed by useing a plank of wood for the main body, we then used old pram wheels (4) and axles, the axles were secured onto matching lengths of wood and fixed across the plank). The front axle was secured with a centre bolt, enableing the axle to be swivelled for steering, the steering was done by useing your feet whilst sitting on the plank.

We had no brakes, and depending on the length and severity of any descent that we used, you could achieve some very hair raising speeds. He reminded me that I had fixed a sail onto my trolley in order to achieve wind power, and how all my friends had a good laugh at my expense, thinking that I was completely nuts......... I was very quick to point out to him that I was obviously years ahead of my time, today all kinds of things have sails fixed, on water, on ice, on snow and on TROLLEYS, that took the smile off his face. In the winter months we used to devote our efforts to building sleds. Its an absolute fact that we had considerably more snow in those days, the weather has definitely changed and become much milder over recent decades. As an adult I went on to develop and manufacture many tools and implements.

[antar]

I bumped into an old school friend of mine from the 1940s, we had quite a long conversation about what life had been like for us in those early days. He then chuckled, and reminded me that when we used to build trolley`s in them days (A trolley was constructed by useing a plank of wood for the main body, we then used old pram wheels (4) and axles, the axles were secured onto matching lengths of wood and fixed across the plank). The front axle was secured with a centre bolt, enableing the axle to be swivelled for steering, the steering was done by useing your feet whilst sitting on the plank.

We had no brakes, and depending on the length and severity of any descent that we used, you could achieve some very hair raising speeds. He reminded me that I had fixed a sail onto my trolley in order to achieve wind power, and how all my friends had a good laugh at my expense, thinking that I was completely nuts......... I was very quick to point out to him that I was obviously years ahead of my time, today all kinds of things have sails fixed, on water, on ice, on snow and on TROLLEYS, that took the smile off his face. In the winter months we used to devote our efforts to building sleds. Its an absolute fact that we had considerably more snow in those days, the weather has definitely changed and become much milder over recent decades. As an adult I went on to develop and manufacture many tools and implements.

 

In my area Ray they were called bogeys. I work for JCB which as you know is in your neck of the woods the assembly guys in the factories call bolts or sets "pins", when I first started there I was confused as to what they were talking about as we also use a lot of pivot pins, strange how local dialects have different meanings for words. Anyway called by your club house today to meet up with John to go and have a look at a lorry loader crane he is selling, nice set up you have there with the nissen hut.

[Big ray]

In my area Ray they were called bogeys. I work for JCB which as you know is in your neck of the woods the assembly guys in the factories call bolts or sets "pins", when I first started there I was confused as to what they were talking about as we also use a lot of pivot pins, strange how local dialects have different meanings for words. Anyway called by your club house today to meet up with John to go and have a look at a lorry loader crane he is selling, nice set up you have there with the nissen hut.

 

Yes, thank you, we have John to thank of course, the Nissen Hut is fantastic. We have some very good, hard working members who do a lot of work for the area.

[Big ray]

The town of Stone, Staffordshire, was only a village in the 1940s. Its situated some 5 miles from the County town of Stafford. It as expanded considerably over the last 60 years. During WW2 Stone was the processing centre for all U.S. 8th Army Air Corps airmen, they would spend a few days / weeks there whilst awaiting their permanent posting in the U.K.

One such airman was a young officer who arrived into a very cold and damp Stone a week or so before Christmas 1943. On Christmas day, after dinner, he and another officer decided that they should take a walk into the village, rather than just stand around kicking their heels. Whilst walking through the village they were approached by two young children, the children told the two officers that their father had told them to go out into the street, and if they could find a couple of U.S. troops, to invite them into their family home for a Christmas drink. (Imagine sending two children out into the street to talk with two strangers now??) The two officers accepted the invite and followed the two children to their nearby home. On entering the house they were greeted by the father, and a couple of other adults, and made to feel at home.

The father reached into the cupboard to access the bottle of whisky that he had been saving for just such an occassion.

The two Americans were quick to notice that the bottle contained only enough whisky to provide one drink for each of the adults. They went on to have a very pleasant afternoon in the warmth of that family home. He was a navigator and was soon posted to his operational station, flying on B17s. However that officer never forgot the kindness shown to him and his fellow officer on that cold day in December 1943. A few years ago he returned, accompanied by his son, to a civic reception in the now expanded town of Stone. Myself and many of my friends attended that reception, the ex airman made a speech, he went on to say how much that he had been impressed by the generosity of that family back in 1943, so much so that he had vowed to return and express his gratitude, and he did just that. He now lives in retirement in Carthage,Texas.

[Big ray]

I should say that the air corps officer that I have just refered to in my previous post joined the air corps from college in the spring/summer of 1943, he had every intention of being a pilot. he applied for pilot training on his induction, but failed to meet the required height, he was infact one half inch short. His buddies told him that the human body is at its longest (highest) first thing in the morning when you awake from your slumber. I dont know if there is any truth in that statement, but he was so desperate to become a pilot that he was prepared to listen to anything that might get him through the height requirement. His buddies decided, and convinced him, that what they needed to do was carry him from his bed to the medical centre for a re-check of his height. They did carry him over to the medical centre, but unfortunately he still failed to reach the required height for pilot training......... so a navigator he would be.

[Big ray]

When my grandfather used to invite the U.S. troops into our home for refreshments I always remember one particular guy who was something of a regular visitor, his name was Joe, he was a New York taxi driver before joining the army. I have often wondered if he survived the war, its one of those imponderables that I will never know. Its a shame that we did not have his address, at least we could have written to him after the war. We had so many brief encounters during the war that would have no satisfactory conclusions, I suppose thats why so many people lived life for the moment, without worrying about the future.

[RattlesnakeBob]

My Dad was a young lad in those days Ray and he well recalls the big US army camp that was in the woods at the end of the road where I now live..At Xmas 1943 the GIs threw a big party for all the kids in the village and had them into one of the biggest huts in the camp to give them a film show of cartoons and the slap up tea of donuts and cakes and 'soda'....

... the kids in this area , which in those days was a big coalfield / mining area , had never seen the like of such goodies and they were all sent home with a big bag of 'candy' too.

Dad has very fond memories of 'the Yanks' despite the fact that they weren't exactly thought well of by the local miners who were in 'reserved occupations' on poor miners wages whilst the Yanks were , in comparison ,staggeringly wealthy

 

PS.....My Dad was crafty with them because he came from a very big family and was often asked

"Hey Kid! got any sisters?"

In reply Dad would say "Yeah I got seven sisters!" (which was true)

the GI would get all excited and give him some smokes or candy and say "Well go get one of them for me to talk to !"

At that point Dad would say " Can't !....only one of them lives at home now and she's only 13 !"

He said it only worked for a few weeks 'til they got wise to him

.....

Edited December 7, 2012 by RattlesnakeBob

[Big ray]

I started driving trucks in July 1957, the vast majority of light trucks (3 tonnes unladen, thats all that you were allowed to drive untill you reached 21 years old, silly really when you think that during my army service there were no restrictions on weight or size. Anything from a motorcycle to a tank transporter) One of the first trucks that I drove after my test was a Bedford MW. with the squared, sloping bonnet. I thought that it was an ex-army truck, but it was one that my family had purchased and when I looked at the registration document it had never served with the forces, it seems that a few of these vehicles were sold into the civilian market The civilian designated carrying capacity was 7 tonnes, we often exceeded that weight. It was a beautiful truck to drive, in fact the engine was so sweet that the first few times that at stopped at road junctions I thought that the engine had stopped and I tried to start it again, all with a resounding clatter when the pinion hit the moving starter ring, you could not hear or feel the engine ticking over. The family dealt in all things mechanical, so by the time that I had enlisted there was not much that I had not driven......... it was a great start for a young man, and has left me with many happy memories.

[Big ray]

Happy New Year.

[snort]

Happy New Year.

 

 

Happy New Year to you too, although I clicked on in the hope of reading another great story!!

[Tony B]

Aggg! Don't encourage him! :-D Happy New Year!

[Big ray]

Aggg! Don't encourage him! :-D Happy New Year!

 

And a very Happy New Year to you. :yawn::yawn::yawn::dancing:

[Tony B]

Still can't get the smileys , so can't blow you a Rasberry!:-D

[Enigma]

Don't shout!!!

 

I drank a lot of Cola you know?!

 

What's a bloke got to do in this clubhouse to have some privacy and silence when sitting in the hottub with Tania and Tina?

[Big ray]

Check out Recymechs post in MV CHATTER..... REME in the field. It will give you a very good idea of what it was like in Germany (REME) in the mid 1950s

[Big ray]

 

We did our usual winter run at the weekend, the last house on the left of the road that we are parked in was destroyed during WW11 when a P47 Thunderbolt crashed into it after taking off from Hatcham Airfield. The pilot lost his life. Hatcham Airfield is now an industrial estate...... Jeeparts are based there. There is a sign fixed to the wall of the house listing the name of the pilot and the date of the accident.

[Big ray]

 

The plaque on the wall of the cottage.

[Tony B]

Nice bit of local history. Thanks for sharing

[Big ray]

I some times sit and think about the things that we cut up in the 1950s, at the time they were viewed as so much money per item, just scrap with no historical interest. Queen Mary trailers amongst the many items that we scrapped, they must be very rare now I suspect. Search lights, they were scrapped for the mercury in the refletor and the trailers sold on to agricultural engineers in the Lincolnshire area, everything had a market. Wheels, axles, engines and gearboxes, particularly Bedford were in great demand abroad in third world countries............ Tanks, well theres a whole story there.

[Big ray]

I have been talking with one of my old army buddies on Skype today, we have been discharged from the REME for 55 years now, guess what we were talking about.......... no prizes for guessing I`m afraid.

[Big ray]

My uncle was a big player in the war surplus business, he was very good to me in the late nineteen fifties and early sixties. he would ring me out of the blue and ask how I was doing with my fledgling business. I would tell him that like most businesses it was full of ups and downs, he would always encourage me by saying, keep knocking on their doors, they will get fed up of you knocking and give you some work. he was correct, he said, you will be pushing the job, one day you will awake to find that the job is pushing you. He would ring to see if I was busy, if not, he would offer me some work to do for him. He rang me one day in the early 1960s and asked, are you busy? He went on to tell me that he had a job for me if I wanted to do it. In the 1960s Beeching had axed many of the railway lines, my uncle had won the tender to remove many miles of redundent railways. He took me along to look at the works that he wanted doing, he had removed all of the railway lines, leaving the wooden sleepers to be removed. He took me to the site in his Merc to view the works. When we arrived on site he took a steel bar from his boot and illustrated to me how I should "dig up" these sleepers from the ground in readiness for removal by his trucks. These sleepers were buried in the ballast up to the top of the sleeper, he stuck the steel bar down the side of the sleeper and proceeded to lever the sleeper out of the ballast. It was quite a considerable task liberating each sleeper from its fixation in the ballast. He said, can you do this job, and then gave me a price per sleeper, I replied, yes that seems fine. When he had gone I told one of my guys, go and get the tractor with the bulldozer blade and bring it on site. It had taken some considerable effort by him to extracate one of the sleepers using the steel bar. Once that the tractor arrived on site, I angled the blade and told the driver to travel along the former railway at walking speed. The corner of the blade flipped each sleeper as it passed, effectively removing the sleepers like one every few seconds. The following day my uncle turned up on site unanounced, he alighted from his Merc, and exclaimed, Jesus, how much am I paying you per sleeper, I replied, not enough. He not only paid me for the work, he also asked me if I would like to work for him, I declined.

[Degsy]

Brilliant bit of lateral thinking Ray but what chance do you think you would be paid in full if that had been in today's world;)