91Čȱ¬

I volunteered in 1939, although Iā€™d already served four years with the Territorials (in the Artillery) and had come out in May 1939. My Colonel had said to me then ā€œYouā€™ll be called up againā€. And in September sure enough, I was.

In 1940 we were cut off by the 39th Panzer Division; it was the division that took Boulogne. We landed at Le Havre and were walking up country on railways and gravel pits. When the Balloon went up, we got onto rail trucks, cattle trucks really, to be evacuated. We stopped at Abbeville ā€” then went on to Lens where we stopped in a siding. We were only there 10 minutes when there was an air attack. Someone shouted ā€œItā€™s Norwegian hospital planesā€ but it wasnā€™t, it was Nazis.

So we got back on the train to return to Abbeville. There was another air raid ā€” the train stopped and we got off and were lying in a field of 40 cows which went berserk. I could only think that I had come all the way to France to be killed in a stampede! We went up the lane away from the field. An officer asked if I had a watch, I replied ā€œyesā€ so was told to ā€œstand guardā€. We looked in a dip, a kind of lane between fields and it was full of German tanks. Sergeant said ā€œStay here while I report itā€. While he was away we raided an abandoned NAAFI truck ā€” it was still full of chocolates and cigarettes. When he came back he told us off. ā€œLeave it alone, we should have left 48 hours agoā€.

We stayed put by the lane ā€” it was a bright moon that night, so bright you could see the ants. I noticed that there was a German tank very close by and I lined my rifle on the man in it, forgetting the barrel was metal and so it was shining in that bright moonlight like a diamond. The German driver ducked into the tank and screamed out. I looked up and realised that two big Germans stood over me with machine guns. It didnā€™t seem a good idea to fight them. It seemed like a dream, not real.

17 of us were taken prisoner and the German troop marched us down the lane. We were lined up against a whitewashed wall to be executed. Then Leutnant Hoffman, the German commander, said ā€œLet them goā€; heā€™d just had the order to move on as well and obviously couldnā€™t see the need of transporting prisoners. I was given a new life that day. Iā€™ve been on borrowed time ever since!

Our RTO (Regimental Transport Officer) who said ā€œWeā€™re evacuating France; get out any way you canā€. We got to the coast where there was a hospital ship about to leave. I said to the men ā€œForm twos and when the order comes, get the stretcher and wounded man on board and stay thereā€. So we volunteered as stretcher bearers and got on board ship. We hid in the toilets.

When we got back to barracks in Guildford (without our Regiment) we were arrested for desertion and put into prison. We couldnā€™t contact anyone. Luckily, our Regiment came back to Newcastle two weeks later and they vouched for us ā€” they thought weā€™d been killed in the burst of machine gun fire theyā€™d heard. My mother had been sent a telegram saying ā€œMissing ā€” believed killedā€.

When our Regiment vouched for us, we got a weekā€™s leave and went to rejoin the Regiment in Newcastle. We were posted first to Altwhistle, then to West Hartlepool, then to Carlisle ā€” stationed on beach defences in the pillboxes. Then the powers in charge changed their minds and sent us to do guard duty at East Church Aerodrome, Isle of Sheppey, in September 1940. I was on duty one night (the duty lasted ā€˜til 8pm) when German bombers came over at 7pm and gutted the place. The devils in the Army had given us brand new Raleigh bikes to cycle after the German parachutes ā€” absolutely no use!

While I was based down in Kent, I used to run the dances in the little villages ā€” I was the MC. I used to go all over South East England and got to meet lots of the popular entertainers and dance bands of the day. The photo shows me at one of the gigs.

It couldnā€™t last! The Army sent us to Cape Town, South Africa. We stayed there for 10 days. Weā€™d go onto the shore by day, and slept on ship at night. It was so hot. Then we went on to Bombay. The plan seemed to have been that we would go to Burma to fight the Japanese, instead they sent us to Baghdad to defend oil fields at Kirkuk in northern Iraq.

Leaving Baghdad, we crossed Black Rock Desert. There was nothing to see, but sand. Yet, whenever we would stop to fix motor, Arabs would appear from nowhere. We left Kirkuk to join 8th Army in North Africa. I am proud to say that I took part in the largest route march of the war - 3000 miles in a truck. We left Iraq, travelled through Jordan, Palestine, Egypt and joined 8th Army somewhere near Tripoli and fought on through to Tunisia.

By 1943, we were under canvas near Tripoli training to invade Italy. I was now with the 56th London Division and 26th 91Čȱ¬ County Division. We joined US 5th Army under General Mark Clark to invade Italy. The Salerno landing was a bit of a mess. The landing craft I was on ran aground ā€” it was too shallow so we pulled back and went 2 miles down from main beach at Salerno.

I remember Battibaglia ā€” 2 German units were waiting for us there. They were no more than 500 yards from beach ā€” they could have driven us back any minute ā€” their snipers were firing at officers and NCOs. My officer tried to make me wear his jacket but I said ā€œyou must be jokingā€.

As we were on the road leaving the area, there was a big gun that had fallen into the ditch ā€” there was a hold up like on Oxford Street. We (the RSM, his batman and me) were waiting to pass, standing there in steel helmets picking plum tomatoes. I volunteered to do that ā€” I didnā€™t have to. I was an army cook so I ā€˜volunteeredā€™ often to get my own back. We fought our way through Battibaglia and the rest of the coast and got on the road to the Kings Palace in Naples.

We passed a little village on the way, and thought to stay the night here and nicked some coffee. We pulled in with the vehicles and parked then went to bar and got well and truly loaded. Got back to find our tank regiment parked beside our vehicles, but weā€™d forgotten the password to get past the guard. They called out ā€œOxfordā€ and I said ā€œCircusā€ ā€” Iā€™ve no idea whether it was right. They (the US) changed the password every day, sometimes 3 or 4 times ā€” we never knew from one minute to the next what it was.

We were there when Vesuvius erupted. I was the most beautiful sight. The Italians had run but we stayed and watched. It was a frightening sight but beautiful.

I remember how the war finished for us. There were 3 of us making brew-up. The RSM came up and asked if there was a cup of tea for him. He just said ā€œThe warā€™s over boysā€. Not that there wasnā€™t a bit more bother. Titoā€™s army came over from Yugoslavia to try and take Venice. General Alexander gave them 48 hours to move. And they did fortunately.

When the war finished we were based near Trieste, near where Marco Polo came from. As soon as he heard that the war was over our CO said ā€œno more fatigues for our boys, weā€™ll get girls from villageā€. Well, I was cook in Sergeantsā€™ mess and this lovely girl from the village came in. Her name was Adelma, she didnā€™t speak a word of English, but we got on all right. We married in Italy and weā€™re still together.

I was demobbed back home on 6 March 1946. My wife came over on the military train with the other wives in April 1946, once sheā€™d had all the injections.

Jack & Adelma Haskett told their story to me, Jenni Waugh, 91Čȱ¬ Outreach Officer, who has typed it up. They accept the site's terms & Conditions. Jack & Adelma were the last of many, many people to tell me their stories this year and they were both absolutely fantastic. A joy to meet. It has been a tremendous privilege this year to be told so many stories by such extraordinary and generous people. This has been a job that I will never regret taking.

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