Documenting your National Service

Tales of the Junior Magicians

 

Wenn ich war in Deutschland ich bin eine wanderfogel. This translates as “I never stayed in one place I was like a wandering bird”. Wanderfogel were an organisation of boy scouts who went hiking and were banned by the Nazis.

 

How much of this is true is difficult to say for so much was hearsay and some just plain observation. On arrival at Hambuhren I was mistaken for a Junior Magician. This was not surprising as they wore the same signal flash and Junior Technician Stripe. So I was asked by another J/T to join them in their rest room. The Study Room for that is what it was; was approached by an outside wooden staircase and led to a room that was decorated in an old fashioned manner and had Russian Pictures and Posters and was like my grandma’s house with tables and armchairs. The newspapers were in Russian thing like Izvestia, Pravda, and numerous Russian glossy magazines. There were novels by all the Great Russian Writers, a radio, gramophone playing Russian melodies. In the few minutes I was there it became apparent that I was not one of them. For my new friend had thought when I said “I was waiting for security clearance”, he had but two an two together and made five; making me a Russian Linguist in his mind and was helping me integrate with the Magicians. It is possible I imagined this but I do not think so for I was trained I observation by the Boy Scouts using Kim’s Game.

 

Another time something strange happened at The White Hart (Weiss Hart) the pub just down the road in the village of Hambuhren. One young man dressed in civvies had had too much to drink. This happened on a regular basis for they had schooner races which consisted of two lines of lads with a tankard of pils in front of each of them and the idea was that the first then the second downed their beer and so on until at the end of the line one team finished before the other; the winners did not pay for the beer for the bill was picked up by the losers. An extra trick was to add a glass of Vodka to each drink or maybe Steinager. They all ended up rather drunk. One young man started to talk to a group of Germans in German about what went on in the camp in a very loud and drunken voice. His mates sensing the problem led him away and back to the camp. Next day he was up before the CO and sentenced to be sent home under military escort to stand trial in the UK.

 

It was apparent that there was a seething problem with the linguists. It was said they had been promised they would all go to Cambridge University to Study Languages and when they had passed their degree they would become Flying Officers. They had in fact been sent to Bodmin Moor to a group of wooden huts to study Russian and other European languages under the tutorage of Émigré Russian and Polish Officers and women. A cold wet and miserable place I was told by one. The course was excellent they had indeed become proficient in Russian and could pass for a Russian or Polish man. They sang Russian Songs, played in Chekov’s plays and read Russian novels and studied Russian history. I did hear that each had a Russian identity made for him together with a Russian name. When the course was complete they were given the rank of Junior Technician. No degree, just a year long course

 

Now you will remember when we arrived at Cardington a vigorous process of selection went on. One filled in forms designed to sift who could do what the entrant’s education and background was. It was obvious that I had been trained as an electronics engineer and had been to a secondary school although the name of my school was confusing as in a previous time it had belonged to the big Church which had pretentions to be a Cathedral and was set up as a Choir School where the pupils learned languages such as Latin, Greek, French and German so they could sing in those languages. So it was akin to a Grammar School which it did become later and still is with a vigorous selection process. When I went there we started to learn Latin and French but the form teacher for I was in the top form was called up and so our language lessons ceased and all we were left with was the ability to sing in French and a little Latin.

 

Again it was said that when they found you had a parent or grandparent who was a Russian or Polish émigré they asked if you had been taught the language and if you went to grammar school if you has school certificate in German or French or Greek or Latin. It was all there in the questions if you had been given them. If you entered the answers that meant you had little education; judged by the selection forms; then one ended up as a general duties clerk, someone who cleaned the bogs, as a cook and from some of the quality of food on some camps it was obvious that these men who cooked had no ability to do the job. Of course there were the important jobs like aero engine fitter and airframe fitter. Then of course there were MT drivers and MT mechanics, accountants, civil engineers who oversaw the building of runways and site buildings doing the drawings and specifications. Of course there were the jobs of batman to be filled as well. There were also the Air traffic controllers, fire fighting a very dangerous job. The tough guys were the RAF regiment. Then we had Special Police with white caps and immaculate uniforms. Of course we had men who were nurses.

 

So the young men potential J/Ts with a language speciality where offered the chance to train as linguists for they had the gift of tongues and that their abilities could be embellished by training. The most promising where given more guidance and offered better things and if they resisted they were given a promise in writing of a place at Cambridge University. I was told it didn’t happen.

 

While I was there something strange happened. There was disquiet among the Magicians they had applied to put their grievance before the CO who had dismissed their grievance. The next step was to take it to an AOC. One day one arrived and so they put in a request to see the AOC. He was told of the promises that had been broken with the written evidence and they asked for discharge as they had had to sign on for five or more years to get the course.

 

A few days later some J/Ts appeared with sergeant stripes and the number of the whole group appeared diminished. The tale went round that they had been demobbed.

 

Of course some of this is true but there is no evidence that this did happen and the only source for the story corroboration is The Old Uetonians Association of which I am a member. There were Army and Navy men on these courses I was told and it is obviously true when one considers ship surveillance and army troop movements

 

RAF Uetersen, RAF Hambuhren, RAF Butzweilerhof 477 Signals Unit, RAF Sharfoldendorf.