I was an ex-miner having worked 'down the pit' from leaving school at 14 until late in 1938 when I joined the regular army, and within 10 months I was on my way to France. I was lucky enough to escape from Dunkirk on a stretcher on 1st June 1940.

I don't know when mining became a reserved occupation, but I do know that in 1941 when I was with my regiment on the South Coast (waiting for the German invasion that never came) that Harry R, the Battery clerk, came to me and said they had just received an order that all ex-miners, bricklayers, roofers and tilers had got to be returned to their 'civvy' jobs.

I said: "Harry, thanks but no thanks. I'd rather stay with the regiment." I'd just been given my first stripe. "OK," said Harry, "I'll forget about it, but it's your decision."

In mid-1943, I found myself on the west bank of the River Chindwin, on the Burmese border, with the never defeated Japanese army on the other side, and I began to wonder if that decision I made about 'Civvy Street' was the worst blunder I was ever likely to make in my young life. But that's another story.

EX-SGT FRANK BOSTOCK, RA
(20 Ind. Division, 14th Army),
Hazel Street, Skegby.