Todwick man's two years' National Service
I JOINED National Service on 19th June 1952, aged 19.
My first six weeks of training was done at Pontefract. From there I was moved to Fulford barracks in York for further 10 weeks continuation training.
At the end of this training I had the option to sign on for an extra year and join the York and Lancs regiment in Khartoum, Sudan, or if not we would join the Duke of Wellington regiment in Korea. As you will see later I did not enlist for the extra year.
After two weeks embarkation leave we set sail from Southampton on 19th November 1952 on board the SS Asturias bound for Hong Kong.
We sailed through the Bay of Biscay and boy was it rough – seasickness was the order of the day.
Then, we sailed through the Mediterranean Sea, down the Suez Canal, through the Red Sea to Aden. We continued through the Indian Ocean to Colombo and called in at Singapore. We then continued via the South China Sea arriving in Hong Kong the week before Christmas 1952.
We were stationed in the New Territories not far from Fanling on the Kowloon side.
I missed the first draft of personnel to Kure in Japan as I had a torn ligament and had to go into hospital for two weeks.
Eventually, after five months in Hong Kong, we sailed on the Empire Pride bound for the battle school in Kure. I had only been in Kure for three weeks when the Duke of Wellington regiment suffered heavy casualties in the battle of The Hook in Korea.
As I was already 20 years old I was in the next group that went as re-enforcement to the regiment. On day one we were drafted to the front line.
This was a very traumatic experience and not one I want to go through again. After six weeks in the front line it was all over – what a relief. The hostilities in Korea ceased on 27th July 1953.
We stayed on in Korea for a further four months, as batman to the medical officer. This turned out to be the best decision I made while in the army.
Towards the end of my time in Korea I managed to get nine days rest and recuperation leave in Tokyo – very enjoyable.
We eventually sailed from Pusan to Gibralter on Friday 13th November 1953 aboard the SS Asturias, the same ship that we had sailed out on.
I spent five months in Gibraltar, part of this time I was batman to the same MO until he went home as he was a National Service man. After this I went as a wine waiter in the officers' mess.
During this time Queen Elizabeth II visited Gibraltar and I was privileged to be among the forces who paraded before her on the airstrip. In June we left Gibraltar aboard the aircraft carrier Eagle bound for England and home.
On the whole my National Service was a memorable two years of my life. I made some good friends, had lots of varied experiences and saw part of the world at the Goverment's expense.
by Dennis Spacie, for Todwick Historical Society
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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