Won't get a better train journey than that if I live to be a hundred:.............. Kalyan was our destination about seven or eight miles from Bombay., a sort of conglomoration of Units, rather like a staging post. It was strongly rumoured that Mountbatten was going to mount a seaborne invasion of Malaya and units were being formed up for this task.
Ours was 5971 MSU (mobile signals unit) formed of 15cwt Ford receiver and transmitter wagons. All kitted out with the new "jeep" R1154 and T1155s.
As usual of course, jobs had to found for us WOPs while all the technical work was taking place and one bright day a Sergeant approached me and asked if I could drive. Well, I'd fooled around a bit with the Padres jeep at Fenny so I said, err, well a bit. Henceforth I was taken to a dirty great 3 ton Ford, which incidentally was stuck in four wheel drive. Off you go then said the sergeant. Well, to the crashing of gears and a bit of over revving off I went. Right called the sergeant, come back, so finding reverse with some difficulty I came back .Fine he said, that'll do........if only I had known!
The next day, a number of us, can't remember how many but eight or ten maybe were enroute to Poona to collect some 3 ton Fords! Oh! Megawd.
Between Bombay and Poona, a distance of about 50 miles rise 2000ft high Ghats( Hills) with hair raising hairpins and one in four gradients. A tarmac road at least but no edges, just straight onto the dirt and no barriers. Lovely views and beautiful pines. So...........collect wagons, five I think, two guys to each and away back to Kalyan.
My co-driver was a Yorkshire lad, 'Ginger Riley' about the same age as me Must have had nerves of steel because he sat in the jump seat with his feet up on the dash, smoking his pipe while I steared my way precariously up the Ghats and down the other side. We saw one unfortunate wagon down in the valley on one hairpin about five hundred feet below but it wasn't one of our chaps thank goodness.
And so, although last in the convoy, we arrive safely back at Kalyan...............that was the day I learned to drive.
One of these or near enough:
From then onwards it was mostly driving for me. Ambulance driver, general dogsbody taking Officers to the Cinema in Bombay and so on while loading, fitting out the the Radio vehicles and generally gearing up for the big day. Below is the roll call of 5971 MSU which I wrote in my Album.
Some of the Lads: View towards the Ghats:
It's unfortunate that I have never had a good memory for dates but it must have been during the time we were at Kalyan or maybe just before that the War in Europe came to a close. VE Day 8th May 1945. Sadly our war was still going on and General 'Bill" Slim's 14th Army was still pressing on. Maybe someone remembers the phrase "The Forgotten Army".
But...........came the 14th of August 1945 and our war came to and end also. VJ Day. Jubilation?, celebration?. not a bit of it. We were so geared up and ready to go that we all sat around in the evening and had a "Morbid Sesh". And of course the face of things changed dramatically...................Oh! and I forgot to mention my tapes came through,. Cpl Mockford.