Stories: Ronnie Turner
He had been a member of the Home Guard for the two years prior to conscription and this helped him to quickly adjust to life in the Army and the 'joys' of basic training..
Related
From the 1st Battalion page
Jack Bibby
Read Jack Bibby's story
Cpl F Whittaker
Read about Cpl F Whittaker
Related Locations
His first 6 weeks of training was undertaken at Omagh Co Tyrone, Northern Ireland.
He was later posted to Formby, Southport where he completed a further 12 weeks of training. Ronnie was particularly pleased to have been moved to Formby because this meant he could get home to Blackburn.
In early December, 1944 upon completion of basic training he and many other new recruits found themselves on their way out to India on a Dutch Liner. He was particularly intrigued by the ship's crew who it turned out were Javanese. At first he thought they were Japanese!!!
Ronnie and his fellow recruits arrived in India in late December, 1944 or early January, 1945 where he joined the 1st Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers at Lucknow. He was very pleased to find that the NCO's in the battalion were not as fierce as those he had encountered during his training!!! He joined A Company and the Mortar Platoon and remained with the battalion in India until their return to the UK in late 1947.
Ronnie travelled home on the HMT Georgic the same ship that brought "Minnie the Mule" back to the UK. He can vividly recall her being kept on the rear deck He was demobbed at York on 17th November, 1947 and following a short spell of Release Leave he resumed his peace time occupation as a shuttlemaker.
Ronnie's Stories and Anecdotes
Ronnie has generously provided the following stories / anecdotes of his time with the Lancashire Fusiliers. They are not given in any particular order, have been rewritten here - click on a story to read it;
More stories from Ronnie...
Ronnie's Photo Archive
SS TEGELBERG
A Dutch passenger ship built at Nederlandscae Sb hij in 1938 to carry 640 people.
Weight 14140 tons, Length 170.5 metres, Width 22 metres., Speed 17/18 knots it was converted to a Troopship and chartered for the Ministry of War, Liverpool, in 1942, capable of housing 2681 troops, no wonder it seemed crowded. It was broken up at Kaohsiung in 1968 after 30 years of service. In the pictures below you see how the soldiers where accommodated, pictures could be a sister ship, or the Tegelberg itself.
