You're on guard mate !

[Ron Goldstein]

I wasn't quite sure where this thread should go so perhaps, if it takes off, one of the moderators will find a place for it ?.

What we are talking about is being on guard and although I did make a tentative search to see if the subject had been discussed before I couldn't find anything..... no doubt others will soon put me right .
Anyone who has done any military service whatsoever must have stories to tell but to get you going I'll start off with one example, I warn you I will be back with more !

WHITBY, Yorkshire, 1942

In December '42 I was stationed at Whitby being trained as a Driver/Wireless Operator in the Royal Artillery.

Most nights, after a hectic day's training, we would find ourselves on guard and manning pill boxes strategically placed on the cliff tops of nearby Robin Hood's Bay.
Two men to a pill box, armed with Lee Enfield rifles and 5 rounds of ammo each.

The pill box had no creature comforts whatsoever, just the bare bleak concrete walls, the only light coming through the weapon slit facing seaward. Toilet arrangements non existent, ditto for seating, and food was what you had been issued with if the cooks were in a good mood.

However many layers of clothing we donned before going on guard we froze and by the end of our shift we were comatose having exhausted whatever conversation we used to keep ourselves awake.

You could say that England was slightly un-prepared for a German attack !

Where did you (or yours) do their guard duty ?

Do let me know.

Ron

[deadb_tch]

Good, story Ron, as I've never served in army for long, only like a lieutenant candidate for 2 weeks (and I can say it was enough for me) in real unit and 2 years in university military faculty, I've heard tons of stories about our soldiers being on guard Most of 'em r very funny

[Gerry Chester]

Hi Ron,

Two stories while at 57th RTR Training Regiment at Warminster.

As the important duty of guarding the Barracks was assigned to MPs and regular RTR personnel, two less significant places to guard were employed to train newcomers.

One location required two Troopers being on guard for two hours at a time. While one stood guard at the entrance, the other patrolled the perimeter of the vehicle storage area, located inside the Barracks, which took ten minutes or so, after which the roles were reversed. It was here that I was first put on guard duty.

With service in the Home Guard I was very familiar with Guard Duty, not so for my partner as it was his very first experience. I was nearing the end of a circuit when my "comrade-in-arms" was being approached by the Orderly Officer and the Sergeant of the Guard. The following exchanges, more or less verbatim, followed. "Halt, hands up or I'll fire" "This is the Orderly Officer!" shouted back the Sergeant. "Stop, I'm going to shoot!" (As ammunition hadn't been issued it was an idle threat.) "How long have you been a soldier?" "About three weeks!" "It's pack drill for you, you (expletive)." From a very understanding officer came "That's enough Sergeant he's only learning!"
The other location was on Salisbury Plain upon a small hill crowned by a clump of trees. There, a couple of weeks later, I had the first of two tours of duty guarding this wind-swept hill whose elevation is not recalled. On both occasions we had to check a long inventory at the beginning and conclusion of guard duty. Although the quantity of all items, including the Nissen Hut, was printed on the inventory form, the number of live trees surrounding the hut was not. Each of the hundred-plus had to be counted, the result being inserted on the inventory form, together with the reporting of any signs of a severed limb. Perhaps it was to discourage, during the icy days of winter, the smuggling of axes in order that a tree, or parts therof, may be chopped down to feed the stove!

Cheers, Gerry

[Ron Goldstein]

Hi Gerry

Many thanks for the prompt response and the pair of good tales to start us off.

As I did warn you, this thread is going to be a bit of a tit-for-tat, so here is another one from me.

I first arrived in North Africa on April 13th 1943 but didn't join my unit (The 49th LAA) until the 22nd of May.
On the 17th June, the King, George VI, flew to Tunisia to inspect the 78 Div and my unit proudly marched in front of him through the streets of Tunis.

As a comparitive newcomer it was deemed appropriate that I, and the other re-inforcements, should guard the vehicle park to ensure that the local citizens didn't make off with sundry parts, including all the tyres.

When we were being given our instructions as to the exact perimiters of the sentry beat it was also pointed out to us that we should be keeping a close eye on the latrines.

When I queried this last point it was explained to me that it was common practice for the local gentry to steal the by-product of bodily functions which were in great demand for spreading on the nearby fields.

To this day I can proudly claim, that whilst my comrades-in-arms marched in triumph through the streets of Tunis I guarded a pile of sxxxt !

Cheers

Ron

[sapper]

When I was in the Home Guard in Poole Dorset. One of the Guard duties was to sit in a little hut on the end of Poole Quay at night, watching for any mine laying enemy aircraft that dropped sea mines.
On a table was a large compass with all the points laid out, and in the centre, a large pointer. if a sea mine was dropped, we had to set the pointer to where the splash was seen.
On my watch we never saw any. But unfortunately a Catalina came in to land on the water. hit a sea mine and completely vanished in a huge explosion.
Sapper

[Ron Goldstein]

Thanks Brian

You must have lots of sentry memories so keep them coming !

My No 3 coming up:

In late 1946 I was stationed at Monfalcone in the extreme North of Italy and was "sweating" on getting my return to England under the current scheme of "Python"

By that time, I had reached the giddy rank of Corporal and therefore was automatically Guard Commander whenever it became my turn to do a spell of guard duty.

One of the places that my unit (4th Queen's Own Hussars) used to patrol, was the local train marshalling yards and on this occasion we were told to pay special attention to a goods train that was staying there overnight before it moved off the next morning.

I was trying to get some shut-eye in the guard hut, when a young trooper woke me frantically to say that one of the fuel tanks that made up the train was too hot to touch and was probably just about to blow up.

I hastened to the spot and yes, when I felt the side of the tanks, it was hot and I began to feel that the trooper might be right.

After much phoning around I finally managed to get some fairly senior railway officials to join us alongside the train . It was then that I learnt, for the first time, that when the tanks were filled with Diesel oil it was deliberately pumped in hot to keep the fuel fluid !.

As the Italians railwaymen walked away from us, I heard one say to the other, in Italian, "another crazy Englishman !"

[Ron Goldstein]

A good friend of mine, Tom Canning, who lives in Canada, has been having great difficulty in accessing this site. He asked me to post this extract from his memoirs for him & I am delighted to oblige.


"Some time later we were "Invited" to stand guard at the docks in Algiers, whcih was a pain in the rear but someone had to do it. Once again MacDonald disappeared very convieniently missing his turn at guarding some frieghters in case someone made off with them. He returned much later with the news that he had been curious as to what we were guarding and so went walkabout in some of the ships, and had come across many new uniforms of which he had helped himself to three in case someone else wanted one ?

There were no takers as we had new kits issued prior to boarding.

The guard was stood down at dawn and we had to be inspected inside half an hour which gave us time to clean up and MacDonald decided to wear his new uniform.

In the gloom of the guardhouse he dressed very carefully in his new uniform, and as the sun came up we paraded to find that MacDonald stood out like a sore thumb !

Instead of wearing the British Brown/Khaki, MacDonald was dressed in the Green/Khaki of the Canadian Army.

The Sergeant-Major felt that this was very interesting and so invited MacDonald to accompany him to the Orderly Office for a little discussion !

That was the last we saw of MacDonald."

[kfz]

come on guys im enjoying this....

Kev

[Ron Goldstein]

This "Your'e on guard mate !" story is unusual, in that it was to last more than a month of permanent guard duty.
It's a bit on the long side so I'll take the easy way out and just supply the link !

BBC - WW2 People's War - The War Ends in Italy, 2nd May 1945


ps
A couple of stories back I posted one on behalf of Tom Canning who is a long term Canadian resident. To anyone puzzled at how Tom & I first met I would refer them to this link:
BBC - WW2 People's War - An unlikely Post War meeting

[Owen]

I've only got one that made me laugh at the time.
It's more what happened just after I was on guard.
Memories playing tricks after 20 years so I don't know how you WW2 Veterans remember things so well.
It was June 1987 and we were on a Match 83 Competition against the S.F. Plns of a TA Bn of The Queens and 10 PARA.
I can't remember which camp it was, me memories going, I thought it was Knook Camp but not sure now.
Our mate Mick Hanley (ex-1DERR) had recently left us to join 10 PARA so there was alot of niggling between us & them.
Poor old Queens must have wondered what was going on.
Anyway, Saturday night everyone trundled off to The Bustard in their Landies leaving Pete, Rory & I on guard with our pick-helves.
It was the time of year when lots of Travellers invade Salisbury Plain for the Summer Solstice.
So we were told to keep the camp safe from marauding Hippies.
We spent a lovely summers evening wandering around the camp with our pick-helves , wacking stones with them & generally wondering what we do if the Travellers did turn up.As it was only two years since the Battle Of The Beanfield.
Battle of the Beanfield - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
After a few hours the 10 PARA lads turned up and took over guarding the camp.
Us three went back to our hut and chilled out.
Awhile later we hear a Land Rover return , revving of engines , shouts and general mayhem.
What happened was that when our lot returned in the 1-Tonner, the 10 PARA lads asked them to stop.
Dave Justice, who later became a Bootneck, revved the engine and tried to drive past the Paras. He was forced to stop and our lots got dragged out the Landy with Andy House, later joined Prison Service, shouting,
"You can't hit me ! I'm a Lance-Corporal!"
Whack!
In the Match 83 shoot the next day, I think we came second to the bloody Paras.
See not very funny but it was to us at the time.