When it came to deciding who was fit enough to travel home by sea or be flown to
Australia I was put on the list for Australia. I argued that I could manage and had
mates to help me. How glad I am that I was not flown to Australia but could go home
by sea. Some years later at a reunion I was talking to a chap from our regiment who
had gone to Australia and he said that eventually he was flown to Canada and it took
him two years to get home. When we got to the dock we were all surprised to
discover that the ship was once again the ‘Sobieski’. On the way home we stopped at
Colombo for forty-eight hours and then our next stop was Suez where we were fitted
out with full uniform and kit. My feet were no longer a size 10 but a size 12 but that
righted itself in time. Because we had got used to sleeping under the stars, for a long
time we used to sleep on the deck. Nobody took any notice until we left Suez when
the nights were much cooler and then it was forbidden.
At the end of October 1945, we docked at Liverpool, what a day that was with so
much to do. I had already written to Edith to say that if I docked at Liverpool I would
call to see her before going home. We had a full medical that night, anything we
needed was given – double food coupons, money and tickets to go home by train.
With a bit of difficulty I managed to get a ticket to Crewe and one to go home the
following day. Edith took the day off work to be on the platform when the train came
in. It was a special train going to Norwich as most, if not all, came from Norfolk,
Suffolk or Cambridgeshire. Edith’s Mother had managed to get some fish which she
had steamed for me but I could not eat anything until I had a boiled egg when I got
home to the Gate House. We had food ration cards, the same as everyone else but
for a time we received double rations. This delighted Father as he liked cheese and
had my ration as well as his own. There were eight of us from the village who went
to Singapore and five of us came back, now there is only me left. There were other
school mates, who never came back from other places.
Edith was already known in the village as she and her sister Doris had stayed with
Mum and Dad on holiday. We got engaged in Christchurch Park, Ipswich and made
arrangements to get married on January 12 th 1946. My Mum was over the moon as
she loved Edith.
Dr Marriott asked me to meet him one evening as he wanted to hear my story and as
I was about to leave he asked me if my mother had said anything to me. What
about, I asked. She should be in hospital, he said, she wouldn’t go until you were
home, married and settled. I had to go to Norwich for various medicals and I was
ordered to go to Devizes to get my discharge papers and suit etc and was to be
prepared to stay for ten days. The problem was that I had to be there by Monday
and on the following Saturday I was getting married in Crewe. I wrote back and
asked if the date of my discharge could be altered. The reply was a telegram to
report as ordered. I arrived there on Tuesday, there were several others, all ex-
FEPOWs. Some had been there since Saturday and hadn’t done anything. The first
thing was another medical and assessment. I was discharged D4, others wereA1.
The others joked about it and said that they didn’t want a corpse here! Passes were
issued for us to get home. Again mine was to Darsham and I had to ask several
people before they would issue me a pass for Crewe.