- Contributed by听
- London Borough of Newham Public
- People in story:听
- George Saunders, Alice Fairholme (Saunders), Laddie Mansfield
- Location of story:听
- England and India
- Background to story:听
- Army
- Article ID:听
- A7354172
- Contributed on:听
- 28 November 2005
George in Uniform
In the late 1930鈥檚 we were hearing lots of scare stories about the likelihood of war breaking out in Europe and the young men were being encouraged to sign up for some military training.
George鈥檚 cousin and best friend Laddie had joined the territorials and George had wanted to follow but his mother was very unhappy about this and tried to get me to threaten to finish with him if he joined, however, when I tried this he saw straight through it and said 鈥淢y Mum put you up to this didn鈥檛 she.鈥 He conceded that he wouldn鈥檛 join if I didn鈥檛 want him to.
He decided to sign-up for the army for the six months stint in the anticipation that he would finish and be back home before any war broke out. I tried to persuade him otherwise anticipating that war was coming and he would have to remain in the army. Ironically his job at the time was to deliver coal to Beckton gasworks, which would probably be designated a reserved occupation and his Mum was forever saying, 鈥渉e needn鈥檛 have gone鈥
Initially he was with the Royal Artillery and later the Sussex Regiment (infantry).
He travelled all over the country both before and after war broke out. Initially he was on searchlights in places such as Taunton, Liverpool and Lincolnshire. Later he was manning the guns in places such as Barking Park and on the Sussex coast at Chapel St Leonards. At one point George undertook a cookery course but although he mastered peeling potatoes, did not manage to qualify.
During his postings I managed to spend a couple of periods with him, these being a farm in Lincolnshire and a bungalow in Chapel.
Laddie鈥檚 war was less fortunate. He went into the army from the territorials and was injured when he was hit in the stomach by the breach of a gun. He had to be invalided out and sadly died from complications of this injury leaving behind his wife Helen and a baby he only saw for a short while.
Towards the end of the war George was sent out to India to help instruct other recruits. He had been promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal and may have been in line to be a sergeant, but this would have meant him being sent to fight the Japanese.
While in India he used to send letters and also teased us with photos of him holding very large hands of bananas, a luxury we couldn鈥檛 get hold of during the war! He was still in India when the war finished and proudly came home in this demob suit.
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