Never Volunteer....
The army takes a fiendish delight in breaking up pals so we were moved in different groups to the North Camp across the road from the barracks so it was goodbye to Douglas Block. This camp consisted of wooden huts where the beds were three planks on trestles which just kept you off the floor. The really good thing was I could still get into town to see the wife and kid.
The army at that time was paying me the princely sum of between eight and ten shillings a week, and for that I had to stand on parade for an hour or so as they paid out in alphabetical order, and with my surname starting with 'T' I was well at the back.
The first and last brick I dropped in the army happened like this. We were on parade when the sgt. asked who could cycle. Amongst us, instantly, there was a show of hands including mine. I thought it would be a job of cycling around the barracks and delivering messages to the different offices. Then the sgt. picked me , and three others telling us to report to the stores. When we got there we found that our job was to clean and oil all the cycles. I vowed there and then never to volunteer again!
The Royal Scots, the oldest Infantry Regiment of the Line in the British Army, was formed in 1633 when Sir John Hepburn under a Royal Warrant granted by King Charles I, raised a body of men in Scotland for service in France.
At the start of World War II, the 1st Battalion embarked for France as part of the BEF. Forced into the retreat which was to end at Dunkirk, they never made the road to freedom. After a desperate defence across the Bethune-Merville road and after suffering appalling losses, many were taken prisoner and few escaped home. The 2nd Battalion, based in Hong Kong, saw action when the Japanese attacked in December 1941. Here too, The Royal Scots fought like tigers but the result was inevitable. At the end they had just 4 officers and 98 other ranks left and taken prisoner. The 1st Battalion was reconstituted after Dunkirk and took part in the Arakan campaign in Burma in 1943 and the Battle of Kohima in 1944. A new 2nd Battalion (originally the 12th) was formed in May 1942 and served in Italy and Palestine whilst the 7th/9th and 8th fought in Europe after D-Day. Since 1945 the Regiment has continued to serve in many parts of the world, including Germany, Korea. Cyprus, Suez, Aden and Ireland
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