Name: Jim

When did you join up? You represent the Welsh.

In 1938 I started architecture at university. I was called up in 1942. My professor managed to get me deferred a bit so could do the fourth year of architecture so I went in May 1942,

I was shattered to find I was called up into the Welsh Guards – the smallest ever to go to Catherham – 9st 4lb, 5’9 ¼”, the minimum height was 5’9”. In 3 months at the age of 20 I was 6’ and weighed 10st 71b. I wanted a weekend pass. And couldn’t get one. Any entrant in the boxing championships would get a weekend pass. I became the welterweight champion – I was still one of the smallest people in the Guards and there was no-one to fight me. I was in the Welsh Guards until 1943 and was about to go on embarkation leave to join the invasion with the first army in North Africa and was then pulled out and put into the engineers and trained as a sapper and I was commissioned just before D-Day. Lots of engineering officers were hanging about as replacements for anticipated casualties and there weren’t the casualties anticipated. I was shipped out to Egypt in August and then shipped to Kenya to train African troops for Burma so that’s where I was. In my day it was pronounced KEENYA and after Kenyatta became President it became KENya

Where were you on VE day?

On May 8 I was stationed in a tented camp right on the Equator called mile 6 because it was 6 miles from a town called Niyuki, right on the Equator; the whole area was dominated by Mt Kenya, the second highest mountain in Africa. The camp was 7,000 ft above sea level, but Mt Kenya dominated everything at 17000ft

On the 8^th May it was the end of the European war but we were more interested in the war in the Far East and in Burma, but it was a great thing that it had happened. I was out with my platoon doing a mock attack, 8 Africans with rifles but no ammunition and I had a pistol with no ammunition. 20 feet in front of me, in a very narrow lane in the bush a leopard jumped out, I was so petrified I remained very still; the Africans disappeared, the leopard and me stared at one another for a few seconds, he snarled and walked away. The only consolation I had was that he had obviously fed well that night or I would not have been celebrating VE day.

Have you had any contact with German people since?

I have only lived in Goring for the last 2 years. The township where I lived was twinned with a small German town and considerable toing and froing took place and I entered into a number of activities and celebrations.

What do you think of Twinning?

I think it is a very good thing. The more co-operation we have with all nations whether Europe or elsewhere the better.