Big ray

[Big ray]

I agree, nicely put..:thumbsup:

 

Thank you for your kind words.

Regards.

Ray.

[abn deuce]

Well done on adding the photo's Ray ! They show that a lot of attention has been paid to them and look like they recently rolled out of the factory .

I do check in to HMVF to see what you have posted very often , several times a day in fact as I dont want to miss post.

[Big ray]

Well done on adding the photo's Ray ! They show that a lot of attention has been paid to them and look like they recently rolled out of the factory .

I do check in to HMVF to see what you have posted very often , several times a day in fact as I dont want to miss post.

 

Thank you for all the encouragement that you gave to me, particularly at the outset... its nice to be in touch, even if it is only electronically.

Regards.

Ray.:kissoncheek:

[Big ray]

I bought the Harley Davidson whilst on a whirlwind trip with one of our club members, he was going to view a Dodge Command Car with a view to purchase, which he did. We had travelled to the Belgium / German border and back in 24hrs, quite a trip including the two ferry crossings. The Harley was missing quite a few bits when I got it, its all complete now, including the hard to find siren. I have had it for a good many years now.:kissoncheek:

[Big ray]

Sorry about the quality of this old photograph, but it shows a view of the main gate to the camp / workshops. The picture was taken from the end of the tram-line, which is where we would take the tram into town, but only if it was raining, otherwise we walked. The block on the right contains the Guard Room, offices and a 22 rifle range on the top floor. The block on the left contains command offices, from the C.O. right down to the admin office. They were all on the second floor, first floor was stores, third floor NAAFI canteen, fourth floor games and relaxation. If you travelled in a straight line through the gates you went down to the tank workshops. :kissoncheek:

[Big ray]

This photograph was taken during our return visit to the camp in 1989, the block in front was the admin block, and you can see that the contractors have started to work on the place in readyness to receive the influx of east germans. The camp was still complete with the exception of the tank workshops. The block that can be seen just on the right edge of the photo was our living quarters, a few moments after this pic was taken, we were invited to view our former rooms. That was a very emotional experience, I made reference to it in one of my posts. :kissoncheek:

[Big ray]

What a small world we live in, our local newspaper runs an article every Saturday called, All our yesterdays. I read the articles submitted each week, they have already covered an article concerning military tanks in the 1950s, an article on which I could throw considerable light. The article concerned the disposal of Sherman Flail Tanks in the mid 1950s. An investigative journalist from this paper tried to find out what was going to happen to these tanks, he came up against a stone wall, he and his photographer were eventually ordered off the site...... that was our site, I think that I will have to contact them and put matters straight. That article was about 2 or 3 months ago, now another article has appeared, submitted by a guy that served in the medical corps, this guy served most of his time in North Africa, then in 1945 towards the end of the war he found himself posted to Keele Camp. Keele Camp was at that time home to several armies, including U.S. troops, Poles etc. He reports in his article this morning about a murder that took place in a local country lane ( I should have made it clear that Keele Camp is only about 1.5 miles from where I lived during WW11) Keele Camp featured very strongly in the police investigations of that murder. He writes in his report that he does not know what the outcome of those enquires were, I can tell you that know one was ever brought to justice over that murder. The case concerned a young courting couple who were attacked, and the young lady died, the man was injured and he crawled to a local cottage. I think that I have already mentioned in earlier posts that I retrieved a Colt 45 complete with shoulder holster, and loaded, from a local flooded stream. At the time of the discovery of the Colt 45 the flooded stream was receeding, I spotted the leather shoulder holster, covered in moss and grasses, but enough of it was visibly clean, and could be seen to be relatively new leather. I fished it out with the aid of a fallen tree branch. I gave the weapon to my friend, who in turn gave it to his father, who I understand put it in the attic of the family home..... my friend died several years ago, so I have no idea what became of the Colt 45. I think that perhaps I need to contact this man. :kissoncheek:

[Big ray]

The tyres on this truck are as bald as a badger, no wonder that they had accidents on wet cobblestone roads so prevelent in Germany at that time (1957) :kissoncheek:

[Big ray]

This photograph was obviously taken in the last few months of my service, the truck is a Leyland Hippo 10tonne G.S.......... The divisional sign on the truck has been changed from 6Armd Div to the cross keys of 6 Infantry Brigade, and that did not happen untill the autumn of 1958. The tracked recovery ambulance in the trailer is going for scrap, along with the stuff in the truck.

[Big ray]

A winters scene during the winter of 1957 / 58. It would be difficult to drum-up any enthusiasm for doing anything on a day like this......... certainly makes you appreciate what it must have been like for the troops in the winter of 1944 / 45 in Northern Europe, they had no centrally heated barrack rooms to go back to. The trucks are Leyland Hippo`s, Bedford Q.L.s, Austin K9, Austin K4 (Screamer). The long building in the background contained german civilian workshops, store rooms and a lock-up for vehicles involved in fatal accidents, vehicles were sealed in there awaiting inspection in order to determine wether mechanical failure or driver error might have been the cause of the accident. :kissoncheek:

[Big ray]

Summer 2010, our son`s Jeep being towed by "A"frame, I think that he borrows my GMC so that he can save on the cost of fuel with his Jeep.... if you do tow like this you must remember to put the low / high ratio and 4 wheel drive into neutral position. :nono:

[Big ray]

When I was a young man, the very thought that one day I might visit the USA was a mere dream. We used to look at these G.I.s in their gleaming new motors, and we thought that they came from another planet. This will be hard for young people of today to understand, with all this international travel being the norm. You would be hard pressed to find anyone in the 40s and 50s who had ever travelled abroad, that was a privilage of the wealthy. I attend many 40s events, as do many young people, but with the best will in the world the organisers cannot recreate the austerity of the period, or indeed the willingness of people to share their meagre rations, there was a tremendous community spirit, people had time for people. My wife and myself finally made it over to the states ( 3 times ) We did such places as New York, down over the mason / dixon line, through the Carolina`s and Georgia, into Florida and Miami. Mobile Alabama onto New Orleans. California, San Francisco, Grand Canyon (This is where I was returning from the mens room, along a communal path that split at one point leading off to the ladies room. I found myself walking behind an american lady, who was walking very slowly back to the veiwing platform with her very young child. I overheard this lady, in front of me, say to her young child, Come on honey, lets go look at this here ditch. We found the States to be everything that I had imagined it to be. My great regret now is that I will not achieve some of the things that I so wanted to do. I desperately wanted to go down through the Smokey Mountains from West Virginia to Georgia, listening to the mountain music on route. I wanted to travel east to west along route 66 ( I know that there is only 70% of the original highway left) I suppose that I must content myself in the knowledge that I have achieved most of the things that I wanted to do, so many people have not managed to do that, including a lot of U.S. citizens who are buried here in Europe, I do have a lot to be greatful for.:kissoncheek:

[Big ray]

Grateful, grateful, I told you, I am brain dead. I should have paid more attention at school, but then you did not have a war going on................. thats my excuse, and I am sticking to it. :yawn::yawn::yawn:

[Big ray]

My mothers photograph taken with my younger sister c. 1939 / 1940. Four years after this photograph was taken my mother was committed to a lunatic asylum untill her death at 46.

[Big ray]

When I was a young school boy I had free meals at school, as did my sister, because of our parental situation. I remember that the dinner ladies would often ask me if I had ever heard my mother sing, I had never heard my mother sing, and I told them so. They would say, oh what a shame, she was such a lovely singer ( She had sang on the radio before the war) Neither my sister or myself have ever heard my mother sing, something that we have always regretted, niether of us has inheritted her ability in that sphere. :whistle:

[Big ray]

We have just returned from a four day break down on the south coast at Torquay. Ten of us, five couples, went down by coach for a 40s weekend at the Majestic Hotel. The hotel was decked out in all forties style with the staff all wearing wartime uniforms, the transformation to create a wartime attmosphere was absolutely excellent, the staff had worked very hard to achieve the desired result. The entertainment was both very comprehensive and excellent, we had entertainment for three consecutive nights, we have all experienced hotel entertainment (40s) in the past, and its usually left something to be desired, but not on this occassion. We all enjoyed it so much that we will consider a repeat next year. The only dissapointment arose when the coach driver informed us that the planned trip to Slapton Sands would not go ahead because major roadworks were being conducted along the sea wall. Anyone familiar with that area will know that the roads are very narrow, so we could not by-pass the roadworks. It was a particular dissapointment to myself, because I had arranged the trip, and had encouraged the others to go just because they could visit Slapton Sands, I have already been, infact I spoke at length with Ken Small. Ken Small was the man responsible for exposing the tragedy that occured there in April 1944 when the american troops were practicing the landings for D.Day. Unfortunately Ken is no longer with us, he died a few years ago. I think that next time we will travel in our cars to avoid that dissapointment.:kissoncheek:

[Big ray]

My GMC and M3 Halftrack arriving at the former Burtonwood Air Base, Warrington, Lancashire.:kissoncheek:

[Big ray]

I mentioned in an earlier post that my good friend Charlie G. had been demobbed several months before myself (10 or 11 months). I remained in regular contact with Charlie via the postal service. In one of his letters he suggested that I might consider flying home on leave using the commercial airlines, that would save me two days travelling, and I could spend those two days at his family home, thus leaving me with no loss of time with my own family. It all seemed like a good idea, so I made all of the arrangements, all at short notice, because my leave date was only a matter of days away. I travelled to Dusseldorf to take my plane to London, where Charlie was going to pick me up and take me to his family home, where I would meet his family for the first time, Charlie lived in Surbiton, Surrey. Up untill this point in time I had never flown, so I was feeling a little apprehensive to say the least. The aircraft was like most short haul planes of the time, a prop aircraft, so on take off, (after running up the engines to test them, and that made the plane shake a bit) we ran down the runway and began the climb into the sky, the ascent was very gradaual and after a few moments I settled down to an uneventful flight, untill we were over London. I did not know at that time that it would be normal for planes to get into a stack, awaiting their turn to land, subsiquently this plane would keep going into rather steep banking in order to maintain its station in the stack. So every now and again I would look through the window on one side to see nothing but sky, and the other window I would see only the ground......... I did not like that at all, I was glad when we got down onto the runway. I entered the arrival lounge and began to look for Charlie, when I heard this voice shout, you B.....d, I`ve been sitting here all day, I had given him the date of my flight, but not the time, and time had been too short for him to let me know by mail and receive a reply from me. I did however have a very pleasant two days with Charlie and his family. About fifteen years later my wife and myself booked a trip to Spain on a scheduled flight. My wife had never flown and was to say the least nervous, I told her that it was a piece of cake, after all, I had done it twice (inc return flight) some fifteen years earlier. So we set off to Manchester airport and once on the plane my wife was shaking at the prospect of leaving mother earth for the first time, I held her hand and kept reassuring her that it would be fine, a piece of cake, the plane ran down the runway and lifted into the sky, no steady ascent this time, but straight up like a rocket, it was a jet. Good job I had packed extra clean underwear, I nearly died. After that she never entirely trusted my judgement. :kissoncheek:

[Big ray]

I was in Germany when the plane crashed on take-off with the Manchester United football team amongst its passengers. The crash happened in February 1958, several of the team lost their lives. I have very vivid memories of the outpouring of sympathy expressed by complete strangers amongst the civil german population. :kissoncheek:

[Big ray]

On a visit to Amsterdam, Holland. 1957. We spent the weekend there, it was a real eye opener for a gang of young red blooded guys. :kissoncheek:

[cosrec]

Bet you did all the cultural sites and museums and completely missed Canallstrasse being hot blooded young males.

Keep posting really enjoy your observations on life and experiences

[Big ray]

Bet you did all the cultural sites and museums and completely missed Canallstrasse being hot blooded young males.

Keep posting really enjoy your observations on life and experiences

 

Actually, some were a little more red blooded than the rest, but you could never do much damage on the sort of pay that we received in the british army of the 1950s..... I could relate some very funny stories, but I`m not sure that an open forum is quite the right place..... grab me at one of the shows, I could have you in stitches. :kissoncheek:

[Big ray]

Whilst I was stationed in Germany my sister met and married a serving soldier (Royal Signals) he was from the Anfield area of Liverpool. I had not met her husband untill I was demobbed, he still had a few months of his service to complete, I liked him instantly, he had the usual liverpudlian sense of humour. Not only did he tell jokes, he drew his humour from everyday activities, a very funny guy to be around. On my return to civilian life I had purchased a late 1930s Royal Enfield motorcycle, 350cc. A few months after his demob I asked him when he had last seen his parents, he had not seen them since his wedding day. I suggested that he might like to go to Liverpool on the pillion of my m/cycle. In the 1950s motorcycle protective clothing consisted of anything that you could locate, usually ex-military, well I had an ex-army tankers overaul, I had purchased it a little on the large side so that I could wear warm clothing underneath, now Ted was somewhat smaller and slimmer than myself. I had suggested that he should wear this T/s suit. We set off on our journey to Liverpool, no motorways in those days, so we passed through all of the towns on route.

We had started the journey in rather dull weather, but as the journey progressed the sun came out and the weather improved considerably. At one point in the journey we were enjoying glorious sunny weather, we were travelling through one small town when I looked accross the road into a shop window, (a rather large shop actually, with several windows in line) the shop was in the shade, so the darkened windows were like a mirror. I nearly fell off the bike laughing, this very oversized suit that Ted was wearing had blown up with the wind travelling up the sleeves of the garment, he looked to be twice his normal size, infact very much like the Michelin Man. I nudged him to look, I could feel the bike bouncing with the joint laughter. We went on to enjoy a very good and close relationship untill his death a few years ago. I will have lots to relate about our experiences together.:kissoncheek:

[marmon]

On a visit to Amsterdam, Holland. 1957. We spent the weekend there, it was a real eye opener for a gang of young red blooded guys. :kissoncheek:

 

Fess up Ray which one is you? my shilling goes on the chap with his hands in his pockets, for no particular reason...

[Big ray]

Fess up Ray which one is you? my shilling goes on the chap with his hands in his pockets, for no particular reason...

I would love to tell you that you are correct......... unfortunately not so. L to R Allan M. (London) Mick K. (Plymouth) Graham N. (Doncaster) and yours truly. 40 or so of us went on this trip to Amsterdam, lots of stories to relate there..... some very funny, believe it or not, mostly virgins (Dont ask) I am actually wearing gloves, maybe thats why I dont have my hands in my pockets. (Army woolen issue) :kissoncheek: