My Country Needed Me (Really !! ): Part One

A whimsical look at his National Service.
by Alan Davidson.

Once upon a time the government announced that they had great need of young, strong, handsome men to help out the Regular forces. I knew they meant me of course, so I duly registered at the local Labour Exchange. The clerk there asked me which branch of His Majesty's armed forces I would favour with two years of my life, and when I said RAF he quipped " I suppose you want to be a pilot?". I told him I would love to be a pilot, but I did
not think that many of them wore glasses as I did.

They would not take my word for it that I was a perfect specimen of manhood and insisted that I have a medical. So, the day after my 18th birthday I turned up for that ceremony at the Medical Board in Newcastle. Here I was poked, prodded, made to jump up and down off a chair, but they finally had to admit that I was right. Later they confessed and gave me a card to prove it.

The registration number of this card was---GFN22431. Was this some secret code? Had they classified me already as ;--Good For Nothing ???

Three months later (now I know how Julius Caesar felt about the Ides of March) came that well known envelope marked O.H.M.S. Inside was a lovely letter asking if I would help them out. How could I resist? My country needed me. So I went.
With it was a warrant for rail travel, and instructions for getting to Padgate, in Lancashire, for our Basic Training (posh name for square bashing ). And so I eventually arrived at those well known gates (not the Pearly ones, RAF Padgate), along with a few lads I had met on the train.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five

Posted on February 5, 2007

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Posted by: Dennis Fickling at April 23, 2008 6:35 PM

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