12 squadron R.C.T. BF Po 43 , R,A,S.C.

12 , squadron R.C.T. , B.F.P.O. 43.

　

Private Melvyn John Blake 23990507

　

I joined the army when I was 17 1/2 years old, the early part of 1963, I went to a recruitment office in Old Portsmouth, they gave me some test do before I could enlist, maths, English, that sort of thing, the Sergeant on duty was a bit amazed at the working out that I did to find the right answer to the sums, the working out was totally wrong but the answer was right," how did you do it ?" he asked , what could I tell him, I did not know myself, then there was the spelling, you see I would always spell the way I spoke, (spalling, tould ,! ) that sort of thing, after the spelling test he told me I had failed by one word, he saw the look on my face and out of the kindness of his heart, ( or because of the low enlistment rate ! ) he gave me the chance to amend the spelling of the offending word, saying he can’t help me, but pointing to the word in question, he gave me the answer, then I was in , I joined the R .A.S. C.

After a few weeks I had to report to Buller Barracks, in Aldershot, I reported to the guard room , there I joined other members of the new enlistment, and with the bag I was carrying we were told to line up into three rows, and then marched off to what was to be my new home for the next few weeks, it was not that far to go but by the time we got to Billets we were very tired, we had been marched and double marched all the way, that was our first taste of Army life .

In them days we did not meet many coloured men, so I did not know what to expect, but I have to say, they were all right !, they were very friendly and we had many a laugh, I have a couple of photographs of friends that I would like to include so I will add them as I go .

                                         This is  Bready and Len they were good company



We learnt how to march as a platoon, they made us fitter with the use of the assault course, we went to the rifle range and learnt how to shoot, and at the end of our training, we would pass out on the parade ground and be sent on to our next posting, as I was to become a Driver I was sent to just outside of Yeovil, in Somerset, it was called  Hound stone Camp, there I was taught how to drive lorries, R,L’s , K.9 , and other stuff, I was there for about 10 weeks, and on completion of our training was sent on to another posting, unfortunately when we completed our training we were posted out to different location around the world and I lost contact with most of my friends, it was a long time ago so I may only remember their full names .

　

I met one one chap in the first week (name forgotten ,) like young bucks in the field sizing each other up, just messing about, he was well built, bulging mussels, he pick me up like a wrestler would, one hand on my shoulder the other between my legs, up I went, spinning in mid air, and I was slammed down onto the wooden floor, I thought I was going to die, the wind was knocked out of me, I could not even take a breath, I could not talk, and the pain was slowly seeping into my numbed body, a half hour later I was slowly being peeled of the floor, helped by the chap who had floored me and all was well again .        WAS THAT YOU !!,?

A group of us went to Wembley to watch football, on reaching the stadium we split up, this was my first time with football, I was not a football player or fan, ( but I did want to be one of the boys ),  when I reach the place for the tickets I was very disappointed, there was nothing for us to see but the backs of other football goers, the game was going on but I could not see a thing , that was it for me, I never watched another football game again , ever !! not even on the tally .                                            

Of course not everything was rosy, there was one cap ( name forgotten ) who used to stink to high even, after being told by other soldiers to clean himself up, and him refusing to do so , ( he just would not wash !! ) they took it upon themselves to clean him up, they grabbed him by the arms and legs, marched him into the bathroom and started to clean him up in the bath, with a scrubbing brush, and a bar of soap, at first I was all in favour, but after a while it got a bit out of hand, they got this old fire bucket and fire pump, the kind you put your foot on and pump like a bicycle pump, jets of water would come out of the end of the hose with quite a force, not content with that, one of the boys tried to insert the hose up the boys rectum, that is where it went all wrong, a few of us went in and put a stop to it, in the end we felt sorry for him, but I will say, he never stank for the rest of the time that we were at Buller Barracks .

I’d like to thank the Copper ( Policeman ) who saved my life in Aldershot, I was felling good that day, I was smartly dressed in my Army uniform I’d just been to a café to meet a young lady, and was returning to barracks, walking down the high street in the middle of the pavement, in front of me two men are walking towards me, I am in a good mood and think nothing of it, they separated, one each side of me, moving close in they both shouldered me at the same time, I was stunned and shocked, I walked on about six paces, I was fuming, I turned around and I invited them both it a building plot between to shops, In my mind I was going to give them a good beating, I walked half way down the plot and turned around, there in front of me, they stood one to the left of me one to the right ,well I realise to late I have bit off more then I could chew, but still I am going for it, then from behind the two boys came a voice, " hello ?" , "hello" ?," what’s going on here then "? , there he stood in a blue uniform and shinny buttons, he had this kind of halo surrounding him , ( wishful thinking ?) he must have been sent by god !, reading the situation he said "on your way boys " , and with that, all the anger seeped away, and I smiling at the Policeman, walked away, in my mind thanking the policeman and god, for saving my life, in truth I was a fit but only a seven stone weakling and I would have had ten bales of s---t kicked out of me .

The posting office , posted me to Germany, to Pinewood Camp, that was to be my home for about three years, I used to drive ten ton lorries, Leyland and A,E.C,’s , Landrover’s , that sort of thing, we tended to get bored after a while  and most of the time we would just do first parade maintenance in the morning, then read a book for the rest of the day, once whilst I was doing the morning maintenance a corporal put me on charge for failing to do first parade maintenance, I thought it strange as I was after all half way through, never the less he charged me anyway, I was up in front of the C.O. and he asked me why I had not done morning maintenance, I told him I had no excuse, except to say I was in fact half way through when I was charge, he looked at me strangely and told me to wait outside, he spoke to the corporal and then asked me to come back inside, case dismissed !, and all that time I waiting for 28 days detention,  sometimes we had the added pleasure of cleaning the lorries down with carosine and oil , oh! what fun , sometimes in the first year we would go on manoeuvres for about four weeks at a time , that was more like it, we‘d go into a small village and camouflage the vehicle so that it could not be seen from the air, spending three or four days there , then move on to the next village, we would met the villagers, and they would be very friendly , offering us snaps or Goldvasser , they would invite you to sleep in their barn, in the winter on 1963 we were very grateful, it was so cold our boots would stick to the floor of the lorry, and in the morning we had to break the ice in the rain barrels to have a wash, when we got too bored we would volunteer for anything that was going, I volunteered to become a Regimental Policemen,( me a 7 stone weakling as a Regimental Policeman can you imagine it!? ), it involved a lot of bull s--t and marching prisoners to and from the kitchens, left right! , left right! , left right!, you get the picture , and of course Guard duty, lot’s of Guard duty ,but that's what I did.

I with a few others volunteered for the big one, Operation Brain Drain, first we had to get fitter, we trained on the Tank Track, up and down round and round, road marching, double march, we got fit , thanks to one boy in particular, I think his name was Muldoon, ( or something very much like it , ) he would keep us all going until we were all at the peek of fitness  we could march or double march all day, sometimes we would train at nigh, we’d take a direct bearing and start walking, it was very dark so you had to be careful where you walked, one night when walking across a large field, a friend stumbled across an electric cow wire and it gave him a bit of a shock, we all laughed, we all saw the funny side of it, I suggested, so that it would not happen again, we cold use a piece of wood because wood is non conductive, good idea !, they said, but seeing it was my idea, I should lead the way, so off we went with me in the lead, the piece of wood in front of me, it was pitch black, so we could see nothing in front of us, Zap !!, I had hit the cow wire, the currant travelled up the stick and then hit me in the elbow, then the shoulder and then hit the back of the my neck, I was almost knocked to the ground with the force of it, at first there was laughter all round, then there was concern for my welfare, I had neglected to take into account, the fact that there was a fine mist and the stick had got wet, the wet seemed to magnify the electric charge, the charge that hit me was not normal, if it was I would fell sorry for the cows .

On another dark night, one of the other chaps, who’s turn it was to lead the way, decided he would carry a piece of 2 by 4, about 5 foot long, again it was pitch black, suddenly from out of the darkness came the snort of what we thought was a Bull, we heard it snuffling and running towards us, with out thinking the lad with the 4 by 2 crashed the wood over the Bulls head, and with a wail the bull rushed of into the darkness, and we fully grown young men ran off into the darkness like Children afraid of the dark .

The idea of the exercise was to get from point A to point B without being nabbed, well we got a village about two miles from our objective, and decided to have a rest, we herd a commotion, so we took a look, the opposing army had waited to the last day and surrounded the village that we were in , and were closing in on all sides, other escaping soldiers had done the same thing, and like us they had split up and all were making a run for it, after jumping a couple of fences I hid under a hedge I had my ground sheet over me, laying quite still I had hoped they would go past me  sensing a movement behind me I turned my head, that was it, the soldier saw the movement that I made and came running towards me, I jumped up, jumped two hedges, and then I was taken down by the same soldier, my only excuse is I was carrying too much weight, once caught, a wet white pillow case was put over my head and like others placed into the back of the waiting lorries, before the exercise it was repeatedly preached to us not to on any account to hand over our I.D.card , on reaching the destination of the Prison Of War Camp, we were stood in a line, the pillow cases taken off, on reaching the table, an officer said,"I.D. Card "and without a second thought I gave it to him, what an idiot !! that was the start, he took my details, the wet pillow case went back on and I was taken away, with the pillow case back on, the guard took me back outside, there without any words he placed my hands on a wooden post, that was to be my home for the next two days and a night, no sleep, sometimes a nap, then stand up again, every four hours I would be taken inside for Debriefing , (INTERROGATION ! ! ,) name rank and number, where ? was I stationed, what ? did I do , what ? would I do in the event of a Nuclear explosion, anything they all ready knew the answer to, and of course a roast dinner!!, funny that, it look like a mug of cold water and a slice of dried bread to me, !! I received that every four hours, my mate told me I was lucky, he was put into a mettle room with a baby crying continually, he did not handle it too well, another  mate said he was in the same sort of room, but they used a constant train whistle on him, I don’t know how well I did, but I got the feeling I did not do to well , then it was over, it was great to get back to my own billet .

Daily life go on there are always ups and downs , hear are some photographs of old chums from our camp .

　

　

　

I may not remember your names for that I do apologise ,but I will try , the one on the left is ,me !! .

 

　

　




　

                                    This is me and I think Isaac Torrey ( spelt wrong! )
                                            you know your name , let me know !

　

I am not sure of the name of the chap who looks worried ,but that is me threatening to grab his bits .

                                                            WHO ARE YOU ,!!?

　
　

The Photograph is a group of us trying to ski in the Hearts Mountain in Germany starting with Turner can you name yourself ,?? I am the third from the right .

　

 

 

 

This a photograph of Taffy Madge , (flexing his mussels on the right ,) and I think a chap named Chris , I an not sure who is on the ground .

 

　

　

I remember the Fijians, I think one of them was called Speedy, I showed interest in learning their language, but in their own language they called me names, lac co tange provy le vou, I think I know what that means, its not very nice, I remember the SMITHS, drinking buddies to each other, often they would cause trouble of some kind, to keep them on the straight and narrow, they made them into lance corporal's ,  I remember  there were many friends in the Army and on the whole they are a good bunch of lads , one things for sure ,Girls ,Beer , and friendship don’t always mix .

We, my mates and I, were once put on guard duty, at Nuclear Missile base, we had to patrol the wire fence boundary, day and knight, we were of course, Armed!, we’d march around the compound with our rifles at the ready, the only trouble was, In their wisdom the powers to be thought it unwise to issue us with ammunition , It certainly was a cold war .

We would get bored in the evenings, we had spent our money at the Naffy ,so we did not have much to do, I think it was my idea to write to the Evening News in Portsmouth, and tell them of our plight , well they ran an add in the paper telling the readers of five lonely soldiers in Germany, and we in turn  got fan mail from all over the place, we divided it between us, and gave some to other soldiers, the letters that were nearest to the individuals home, that’s the ones they ended up with, I had about 15 letters, and started to write to them all, there were young girls, middle aged ladies, and old granny’s, I did my best and wrote to them all, some wrote back and some for some reason did not , the granny’s would send cake , Yum! Yum! ,

One day , Isaaz Torie ,? ( different spelling ! ) , said to the room in general,"I got one letter too many, who ? wants it ! " , " oh shove it on my pile I said  I will answer it ", well I did answer it , when I went on leave from Germany, I would always arrange to meet the young girls and take them out, at this stage I think you should know what sort of mind I had, due to an early part in my life being jilted by a two timing girlfriend, I looked on all Girls as fair game, my sole aim was to use them all to the best of my abilities, ( The four F’s !! ) and I did, to those girl’s I offer my profound apology, I was an immature idiot, and it was not until I met the girl from Sherborne , Dorset , that I realised what a cad I had been, she was the " one letter too many " , not expecting her to come, I invited her to come to Paulsgrove , Portsmouth, and visit me, but at my Sisters house, all above board, against all odds she came, I was to meet her at Portsmouth Town Station, I was there waiting for her to get off the train, then I saw her, I was hit, and hit hard, I was hooked line and sinker, I had not as yet said one word to her, and I was hooked, well I was not going to have that, I am a confirmed woman user, I did not want to get involved, I smiled , said polite words, and took her bags, my plan was to pass her on to my brother, so that evening, I made some excuse and my brother took her out to a dance hall, my plan was working ! , I did not enjoy that night at all, I was like a bear with a sore head, I was pacing up and down , he my brother could be getting his leg over ! , I was mad, but it was my own fault, by the time they got home I was jealous, but all smiles, thankful that nothing had occurred, I made plans for the next day as if nothing had happened, we then dated like ordinary couples, towards the end of the second week I asked her to marry me, she said NO!, feeling sad I went back to Germany, we started writing again, and in the letter she wrote to me saying, she wished she had said yes, I told her it was not to late, so on the next leave, we got engaged, I eventually married the girl in question, and now five children, nine and a half grandchildren , and after 45 years we are still married and going strong . ( I THINK ? )

　

I used to like to go swimming in the pinewood Camp swimming pool, using the grease supplied with the gas mask we were issued with, as sun oil , I would go very brown in the sun, the landlady at the local pub would say , (" you no English you Greeky " !! ,) well I decided to buy a new pair of trunks, they were beautiful, WHITE !! , I put them on, and the contrast with my skin was "WOW ! I was in love with myself, I climbed up to the top diving board, did , ( what was to me a beautiful swan dive ,) perfic !! I climbed out of the pool feeling like I am it !! then I looked down, my trunks had turned virtually clear, you could see everything, if you could see my front you could see my back, ( BUM ! ) sheepishly I retrieved my towel and made a quick exit, never to wear the trunks again .

I was returned to England, to Chattendean Barracks, Rochester Kent, I met a few more people , but unfortunately I was tired of the boredom of Army life and decided to buy myself out .

I never told you but from the beginning I was having trouble around my neck and face, acne, they called it, it all started with the khaki shirts, the irritation caused my neck an face to react, and turn into lumps and sores, when I was seeing the Doctor one day I told him of my intent to buy myself out, don’t bother he said I will give you a medical discharge, and that with, than a month later I was out .

 

It is funny, my wife said she never saw any disfiguration,  not from when first saw me or even till now .

 

 

SHE MUST HAVE LOVED ME !!

                          I nearly missed this one ,do you remember yourself ----- Chris ??


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