MEMORIES OF A NATIONAL SERVICEMAN

Gibraltar  1953/54

TREVOR SIDAWAY
ROYAL ELECTRICAL AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERS

THE SECOND BEST POSTING AFTER THE BAHAMAS

In the Autumn of '52, following six weeks of basic training at Blandford Camp in Dorset, I was posted

To Bordon Camp in Hampshire, together with other "mature" Servicemen, for four months of

technical training. Then on to a transit depot at Arborfield, in Berkshire, to await an overseas posting

I was offered the option of staying on to be trained as a PTI (Physical Training Instructor) but only if I

signed on for an extra year--not an option!
The Arborfield experience was unpleasant--it was mid-winter-- the camp numbers were changing daily

as personnel were shipped out
Rumours about postings were rife; Korea, Egypt and Germany, in that order, were the ones to be avoided

I drew the short straw and was granted two weeks embarkation leave before shipping out to Korea
Then my luck changed!
I was taken off the Korean draft, no explanation, and transferred to Aldershot to await a flight to

Gibraltar

A WEDDING AT ALDERSHOT AND A NIGHT

AT TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD TUBE STATION

At Aldershot, there were two others from the original Blandford intake, Taffy Evans from Llanelli

and one other whose name I’ve forgotten--I should have remembered him as, together with Taffy,

I was invited to be a witness at his wedding at Aldershots Registrars Office

Although the wedding came out of the blue it was no “shotgun” as she turned up in Gibraltar

about six months later on holiday—looking “normal”

The REME Barracks at Aldershot were used only by troops in transit so there was a lot of hanging

around and one of the highlights included meeting up with a Geoff Smith, who had been a classmate

in my Infants and Junior school in Cradley Heath, and a couple of visits to watch Aldershot Town

play in the old second division

On the day we moved out, we were joined by three other National Servicmen, Don Youldon,

? Adshead and one other--they had been training at Honiton

The six of us made our way to Tottenham Court Road Tube Station in central London, part of it had

been converted into an underground barracks complete with bunk beds and we spent one night there

(?Adshead, the first surname on the list, was given an acting rank of corporal and was “in charge” of

the transit)

FLIGHT FROM BLACKBUSHE AIRPORT WITH

A REFUELLING STOP AT BAIRITZ

We made our way to the famous wartime airport at Blackbushe in Hampshire and had a pretty

bumpy flight in a Huntings aircraft, putting down at Biarritz to refuel

(Military flights were not tolerated in Franco’s Spain)

We were in Aldershot for about three weeks and with no signs of a flight, I was overheard complaining

by an "old soldier"

"Thank your "effin" stars," said he, "and keep your "effin" mouth shut--you're going to the second

best overseas posting after the Bahamas"

How right he was!!

GIBRALTAR IN THE 1950'S

SPORTS FIELD

REME Barracks, Governors Cottage Camp REME Workshops and Offices

The rectangular flat area in the foreground was the REME sports ground, it contained two football

pitches with "shale" playing surfaces, a little like the surface of all weather tennis courts

The REME barracks were away from the town on the eastern side of the rock, overlooking the

Straights and the Mediterranean

The camp was on the site of what had been the Governor’s Cottage residence and was a collection of

huts and buildings that included the old Governor’s Cottage

The backdrop was a cliff face and a narrow road was all that separated it from the sea

The REME Barracks in the 1950’s

A very unmilitary collection of buildings overlooking the Mediterranean

In the foreground is the Motor Transport area with a Bedford 3 ton lorry in the yard
The lighthouse at Europa Point can just be seen in the distance

The Governor’s Cottage long before it was converted into the REME barracks

Pictured in 1916, the Governors Cottage, residence of the Governor of Gibraltar

The original buildings formed part of the Sergeants mess

A very un-military collection of buildings overlooking the Mediterranean

A BIT OF CRADLEY HEATH AT GOVERNOR’S COTTAGE CAMP

Dudley & Dowell drain cover

made in Cradley Heath

The six of us were picked up at the airport and dropped off outside

the Adjutants office at Governor’s Cottage

To my amazement I found myself standing on a drain cover that

carried the name;

“DUDLEY & DOWELL LTD CRADLEY HEATH STAFFS”

Their factory, one of the largest manufactures of cast drain covers

in the UK, was about ½ mile from where I was born

Our documents were taken by the Company Sergeant Major,

he was a very un military CSM and fitted in with the relaxed

atmosphere in the camp, he was approaching retirement and had a touch of the Spanish Manana about him

My Billet

I was billeted in one of the huts with the very appropriate name Vista del Mar (View of the sea)

It overlooked the coastal road and had an interrupted view across the straights with the coast of

North Africa on the horizon

It was the last hut in the camp behind it was a rocky area, which had a deserted wartime gun

emplacement, followed by a solid wall of rock up to an area known as Windmill Flats with the highest

point of the Rock in the distance

Vista Del Mar

My billet at Governors Cottage camp

Inside my Billet

My bed is in the foreground of a very casual layout, which exemplified the easy-going nature of the camp

The view from the back of my billet

The corrugated roof of my billet can just be seen in the bottom LH corner, the wartime gun emplacement

is clearly shown with the highest point of the Rock in the background

A later photograph of Ginger and me at the Corporals Club

Relaxing at the Corporals Club in the REME Barracks at Governors Cottage Camp
Overlooking the Mediterranean, North Africa in the distance

Lively Saturday nights in Main Street with the Fleet in Port

In the 50's, Gibraltar was very different to the duty free shopping paradise that millions of tourists have

experienced in recent decades
It was very much a military garrison with many thousands of servicemen swelling the civilian population

of 30,000
On top of this it played host to all of the "friendly" Navies of the World, especially the American sixth

fleet and the British Mediterranean and Home Fleets
Occasionally more than one fleet at a time was in port and Main Street, which in those days  sported a

number of "Honkey Tonks" (Dance/Music bars), could  become rather lively, especially on a Saturday

night --the Trocadero was the Forces favourite                          
Naval Shore patrols, complete with "nightsticks" were much in evidence as well as the British Redcaps

(Military Police)

The TROCADERO “Honkey Tonk” in Main Street, 1954

The sailor standing in the doorway is part of an American Shore Patrol—you can just see his nightstick

A worms eye view of a Spanish Flamenco dancer at the Trocadero

and

Our American Cousins

Jim Everart and Joe Guderian were in the US navy in Morocco in 1952/53 and made a number of visits to

Gib--and the odd Bordello in La Linea!

They eventually transferred to the Aircraft Carrier Medway

Morocco was a few miles away across the Straits and the Spanish border town of La Linea de la Conception

was a short walk across the Airstrip with the Costa del Sol stretching as far as the eye could see

Torremalinas in 1953

Torremalinas was a small fishing village, and not the urban sprawl of hotels that it is today

Malaga in 1953

Pictured shortly after arriving in Gib in the Spring of  '53
I'm in the designer sunglasses and the fez

Across the border in La Linea

The Ceremony of the Keys—a daily event to “secure” the Fortress

On the left, Alan Cattell, a National Service "Redcap" in Gibraltar in the 50's.

I didn’t know him at the time but he was to become a good friend in later life

# Playing trains with Prince Charles & Princess Anne #

# More about the models # # "Resting" in Tangiers--at the EL Farhar #

# Football in Gibraltar (Part one) # # Football in Gibraltar (Part two) #

# Keeping the Laundry going and other Sports #

# The REME Badge #

# Home #

email me   trevor_sidaway@hotmail.com Link to "Black Country Stories"