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15 October 2014
WW2 - People's War

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Post-War Experience

by PeterHorrocks

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Contributed by听
PeterHorrocks
People in story:听
Venerable David Rogers
Location of story:听
Yorkshire
Background to story:听
Civilian
Article ID:听
A3830131
Contributed on:听
25 March 2005

POST-WAR

Life at Cambridge was a curious but thoroughly enjoyable experience. Starting there at the same time as 1 did were many lads straight from school, aged late 17 and 18 years olds - a "normal" intake. Alongside were some like myself who had had war service of various lengths and of widely different experience. I was not particularly conscious of it at the time but it must have been difficult for the staff of University and College dealing with these two disparate groups. On the one hand, with the age of majority still 21, they were in loco parentis to the `young' students; on the other hand we ex-service men were several years older, much more mature, legally and practically `adult' in every sense and, in some cases, having held senior positions. Rules and discipline still followed the pre-war pattern; for instance, the college gates and doors of lodgings in the town were locked at 10 pm., though entry was still permitted up to 11 pm. on payment of a fine. Entry later than 11 pin. was "forbidden", though I remember the Senior Tutor hinting to us older students a good source of information as to an easy route to climb into the college after hours.
I remember being surprised at how easily the two groups of students lived together without noticeable problems and I personally developed close friendships with men from both groups. There were however some striking oddities apart from the general position outlined above. Especially noteworthy was the juxtaposition of two notices: soon after bananas started to become available again after the war ended there was a notice telling those with blue ration books (i.e. the `children' who were under 18 when their ration books were issued) where and when they could collect their allocation of bananas; alongside was another inviting all married undergraduates, their wives and children to tea in the Master's Lodge (married -just imagine!)
It was very difficult for me to adjust to academic work after five years break, very rapid demobilisation and the transition from a very hands-on practical life with men, vehicles and radio equipment. My tutor was patient but, after struggling with them for a year, Latin and Greek defeated me and I was given special dispensation to switch to theology in preparation for ordination. All the other aspects of student life were very congenial however, even if they were somewhat restricted by continuing
rationing; they were entered into fully with the result that my degree grade did not by any means match what would normally have been expected of an exhibitioner.
Faith impaired and restored
There was, of course, more than the "difficulty" of classical studies behind the decision to switch to the study of theology for my degree. I had gone into the army in 1940 from a life at home and at school in which attendance at church and chapel services were taken for granted alongside private prayers. These continued at first relatively easily, not least because there always seemed to be one or two others who were willing to join with me in going to a local parish church on Sundays whenever our duties allowed. I have to say that church parades did nothing for me beyond having some sympathy with a succession of chaplains who tried to make something of them.
But now, for the first time in my life, I came up against the secular world in which people lived without seeming to have any need of religion; indeed it had no point for many. Further, as I write elsewhere (see especially p.25), I lived and worked with some extremely nice, good-living and generous people who "belonged" to that world, displaying gifts and qualities which I had been brought up to believe sprang from Christian life and devotion (as they do, if not exclusively!). Imperceptibly and gradually over the wartime years my own personal dependence on my faith waned until I effectively became part of that secular world even if I never got to the point of rejecting the faith of my fathers completely.
With the war over and academic studies resumed I began to have serious doubts as to whether I could now offer myself for the ordained ministry on completion of my degree course. I do not think this "doubt" was due to the horrors and enormities of war for, mercifully, I had been largely spared them. Rather it was the factors outlined in the previous paragraph, which affected my thinking and attitudes.
Nowadays this sort of experience might be described as a "crisis of faith"; certainly there was (and is) nothing unusual in it. The influence of committed Christian friends (coffee-fuelled discussions into the small hours etc!), the College Chaplain who later
became my tutor and the services in the chapel there led to a renewed conviction that, should I be accepted by the Church under the newly-established processes, ordination was indeed the right course for my life. So I went to one of the selection conferences and was accepted; the switch from classics to theology followed naturally on that and a place at a theological college in Cambridge was secured in such a way that my
degree course and the vocational training could be partially combined to reduce the whole process by a year.

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