Page Eight
The disappointment felt, at only being allowed to take several different tanks out for very short drives, was lessened as one whole week was given over to driving Bren Gun Carriers. Part of this training was to approach a hummock at high speed then slow down sufficiently to get smoothly up and over. The driving instructor regaled us with a hilarious tale of one driver taking the hummock at full speed - apparently the carrier "flew through the air with the greatest of ease!."

While drill, physical training and other chores continued unabated, most of the ensuing weeks were spent in Cpl. Pell's classroom. It was there I met Trooper Jim Wiggins from 35 Troop - his serial number was 16 after mine. Over the next few years our paths would run parallel until, as Sergeants, we were demobilised together in 1946 being in the same Release Group.

Many things had to be learned or relearned. In the Home Guard letter identification was that used in WW I - A for Ack, B for Beer, etc. With the United States entering the war a new common format had to be learnt - A for Able, B for Baker etc. Much time was spent learning how to operate several different types of wireless sets including the recently introduced 19 set.

Many, many hours were spent tapping on Morse keys as, to qualify as a Driver Operator and to enjoy the higher pay that went with it, one had to both send and receive at no less than twelve words per minute. Here, experience with the Boys Scouts paid off. Not only did I pass out at twenty-seven words per minute but also, for some unfathomable reason, finished all-around top of the class. This is not mentioned for any purpose other than later it was to become of some significance.

The days and weeks flew by, so intense was the ongoing training, most of the time being spent under Cpl. Pell's benevolent and watchful eye. The days of "You Lot" etcetera faded into, what seemed to be, the distant past.

Came the final day of the final week and another spot of leave on return from which those who had qualified as Driver/Operators would be posted to an operational unit.

Goodbye RTR

Early on the day following our return from leave, Cpl.Pell marched ten of us across the barracks to eventually line up in front of the CO's quarters. After the command "Stand at ease" was given Lt. Colonel Broome, an RTR man through and through, gave a short but never to be forgotten speech. After congratulations on the successful completion of our training it went something like this, "Men, I have some bad news, you are being posted to the North Irish Horse, damned donkey wallopers."

Later that day in early February, 1942, there arrived a Bedford 3-tonner. When all were aboard it was "Goodbye Warminster" then "Hello" to nearby Ogbourne St. George. Nine Englishmen and one Scot were on the way to join the over six-hundred men from Northern Ireland and Éire and the finest Regiment in the British Army. For this writer, it was the commencement of four years and four months of service, through good times and bad, with a great group of people who proudly wore the badge of the North Irish Horse.

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