ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

This story was submitted to the People's War Site by Margaret Walsh of The Royal Star and Garter ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ on behalf of Micky Browne and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

My first Unit was Bridgnorth, Salop. I started there as a rookie. I was there for quite a time. We used to go out on our days off. The local people were very kind to us. They'd bring us back to the Unit.
Later I went to a big camp where I was a corporal and had 17 girls to look after. Then I worked my way down to London. They were advertising for people to join the police. I thought it might be a change from teaching drill and shouting my guts out!
I joined the police and was in London - Princes Gate Court, Kensington. We used to patrol in 2's - around Piccadilly and other local stations.
Then I went overseas with the police, where I was in Cairo, Haifa and Tel Aviv. I did patrols and checking on absentees from the local units. For example, they might have gone on leave and not returned. I would have to go and look for them. I always had a man with me.
In Tel Aviv there were a lot of prostitutes. They used to come and pester our boys. One of our men had a long moustache and was called Peter. On one occasion one of the girls said, "Where's my Peter?" I pushed her off the wall!!
One of our girls got engaged to an awfully nice boy. We were going home at the end of the war. I had a pass to go on the plane and I gave it to them so that they could go together. I followed on another flight to the UK. The one I should have been on crashed and they were both killed. The only good thing was that they were together. For years I wouldn't go on a plane.
I came back to Princes Gate and was demobbed from there. If I'd stayed in I'd have been a warrant officer. But my father was ill and I thought I had better go home - not that I was thanked very much!
I had a lot of jobs in civvy street - Simpsons of Piccadilly and different places in the city. I had been in the rag trade before the war.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.