Conscription

CONSCRIPTION PLUS TWELVE  MONTHS

4239501   SAC  HARE

I was only 12 years old when I realized that I would be conscripted in to the Armed Services to serve 2 years National Service when I reached the age of eighteen. It was always on my mind and as the years passed and the compulsory enlistment became closer, so my mind adjusted to the fact that I would be called up to forego a medical examination to confirm that I was fit enough for selection into the military and it was during the medical at Queens Road Brighton when I was found to be colour blind, which prevented me from becoming a radio mechanic in the RAF, although I had been serving an apprenticeship as a radio and television engineer at Preston Technical college for 18 months and I wasn`t required to have a colour blind test before signing up for the apprenticeship. I was tested again when I was at RAF Cardington and failed, so I opted to become a wireless operator using morse code communication.

It was then that I that I decided to sign on as a Regular Airman in the RAF because TWO plus ONE was a lot more money weekly than National Service wages. Four Guineas for Regulars £4.20 as to £1.40 for National Service There was also a compulsory / Voluntary savings scheme of a shilling a day 7 shillings a week which works out at £36.20 a year in operation and when serving abroad we were entitled to an overseas allowance, other than Germany which was classed as a home posting. So signing on for the third year and serving overseas and receiving the overseas allowance I was still reasonably well off.

When the time came to join –up I was issued with a train warrant to Bedford which was on route to RAF Cardington where I would be kitted out. Before the journey to Bedford, the furthest I had travelled on my own was 7 miles to Brighton, but after a couple of journeys it became normal to hop on a train, but better still, to save rail fares  I Hitch-Hiked to wherever I needed to go. In those days Servicemen wearing uniform could always guarantee thumbing a lift. One of the lifts that stopped to pick me up just outside the camp at RAF Wythall near Birmingham asked me where I was heading for, I told them Brighton, “Jump in we`ve just bought this car and it needs a test run”, but they didn`t say where they were heading for and continued to drive and drive until we arrived at the Palace Pier on Brighton sea front 50 yards from the Pool Valley bus station. (“You don`t get many people like that these days!) If I had told them that I lived in the village of Ringmer which was near Lewes I am sure that they would have driven me there. But I crossed over the road and boarded a bus to do the last 10 miles.

They had driven about 130 miles and then drove back to where ever they lived solely to get me home quickly. I managed to get other lifts regularly but mainly to London and where I caught a train to Lewes. A forces return train ticket from Victoria Station to Lewes in those days cost 30p or 6 shillings in old money. I also stayed overnight for the price of just one shilling at the Union Jack Club while waiting to board a coach the following morning to take me to  RAF Wythall.

I had been deferred for 3 years because I had signed up as an apprentice to become a TV/Radio repairer, but after 18 months I decided to call it a day and gave my notice and went to Queens Road Brighton to enrol for National Service at 19 years old. I bought myself a brush and comb also a safety razor, shaving brush and soap (for when I needed to shave!) to take with me to RAF Cardington where I was kitted-out. Whilst at Cardington the shouting started and worsened as the days went by. I was issued with a brass button cleaning stick and a “Housewife” which turned out to be a cloth bag containing everything which is required to sew on buttons and darn holes in socks and within minutes of receiving it I was handed a length of tape with the number 4239501 stamped on it about thirty times and was told that the numbered tape was to be sewn on each garment and it was to be done before we left Cardington to go to our initial training camp. Before packing, all of the garments were laid out on the bed for inspection by a N.C.O. and when he confirmed that I had everything I packed them in a kit bag to take to the initial  training camp RAF Wilmslow.

On arrival at RAF Wilmslow the shouting and verbal abuse got even louder and nobody ever received any praise. Even calling a corporal Sir by mistake caused you to be treated like an idiot. Eventually we were knocked into shape and soon remembered that a corporal was a corporal and not a knighted person. I was told that I would be the senior man of billet 246 and it was down to me to organize the necessary jobs to complete a bull- night and have it ready for the morning inspection. It was a huge responsibility to get 20 young men to carry out my requests to clean everything within the billet and I mean everything. We worked well together as a team on the 10 weekly bullnights that we did and we got good results on the morning inspection.

On returning to camp after my first 72 hour pass I was charged for being 1.1/2 hours AWOL (absent without leave) because I arrived back late. On the following morning I was ordered to report to the guardroom to face the charge and was marched in to a room at great speed where the adjudicating Officer was waiting. I was halted in front of him and told to give my service number and name. The adjudicator questioned me as to the reason why I was A.W.O.L. My defence was that prior to going on leave I was instructed by our Flight Pilot Officer not to travel overnight and to catch the earliest train possible the following morning, which I did at 6.10 am. I was still found guilty and the case was admonished, (Guilty with a warning!) So I didn`t complete my 3 years service unscathed although there was no record of it in my certificate of service booklet.

I well remember the afternoon when we were told that we would soon be sorting the men from the boys. We were told to form a single file and walk between the two rows of benches where at the end stood two RAF medics one on either side ready to pounce on both arms at the same time. I seem to remember having schick tests in both of the lower arms at the same time and by a TABT injection in the right arm while the other arm was being done for smallpox. I hate having needles stuck in me but I managed to stay upright throughout, whereas several of the other lads didn`t. On the same evening we had to complete a full “Bullnight” which was quite painful because a large lump appeared under the right armpit and polishing floors, boots, badges and cleaning windows became very painful. The following morning two lads reported sick and were hospitalized because of their allergic reaction to the injections and were in hospital for two days. I sometimes wondered if the routine they used was deliberately set up with the aim to belittle us whenever possible. If you had a reaction to the injection and reported sick the hospital medics would be compassionate, but you stood no chance from the Flight N.C.O. he would put you in the WHIMP category, which means that even if you felt unwell you would try your utmost to hide the fact and carry on with the training.

Then along came the FFI (free from infection) Inspection by the Medical Officer. This is the ONLY time that you stand at ease with your arms held out to the sides when an Officer approaches you and then when he arrives in front of you, your pants are lowered to your knees for the Infection / Inspection to take place, a quick visual check of the armpits is carried out and a stick is used to lift the penis. Once checked it is up with the pants and back to the attention position. I felt very embarrassed having it done to me in the presence of twenty other airmen looking on. Surely an inspection so personal could have been carried out on the initial medical when the importance of hygiene would have probably been considered, not one stick for twenty dicks! It took me back to my school days when all of us lined up to receive the regular dose of malt and cod liver oil when the teacher walked along the line with just one spoon in her hand and using the same spoon to administer the food supplement to each child and nobody thought anything of it in those days.(How hygienic is that?)

Because I was selected to be senior man of the billet I was told not to volunteer by the NCO when volunteers were called, as it would be a mundane job that needed to be done and he said he would give me the nod when to volunteer, and when that time came I ended up going to RAF Woodford

in Cheshire to look over the Vulcan bomber aeroplane which had its maiden flight on the 30^th August 1952 and was introduced into the RAF in July 1956 and was retired after 30 years of service. In 1958 I   remember entering the aircraft through the bottom of the fuselage and once inside I actually sat in the pilot seat in the cockpit  which was only large enough to accommodate five people. The Vulcan bomber was 30 metres in length and cost about £40 an hour to fly during the 1950s and 1960s and in the later years it was nearer £1300an hour.

 

After 10 weeks at Wilmslow came the passing out parade and our flight did very well and I remember feeling very proud of our achievements. I then moved on to the trade training school at RAF Compton Basset  and

was there for 18 months learning how to receive and send morse code at 18 words a minute.  At the end of the course my ability was tested and I gained the rank of LAC (leading aircraftsman,) but although I had qualified, it was not  enough to  guarantee that I would be allocated a transmitter and receiver and I could end up being a wireless operator`s clerk, for months before a vacancy arose. So to be sure of being a wireless operator working with morse code, receiving messages, rather than sending them, so I applied to do a 12 week advanced course at RAF Wythall in Warwickshire and became a qualified receiver at 25

words a minute and figures at 40. Because I had passed the course I was privileged and given a choice of overseas postings,Singapore, Germany and Cyprus, I chose Cyprus mainly because E.O.K.A was active and it appealed to me to do active service. In 1959 peace was negotiated and Cyprus became independent. The total of 371 British personnel were killed during the four years of conflict. Many more deaths,  than either Afghanistan and Iraq during their hostilities, but “Cyprus military deaths” are not recognised with a Monument, unlike other conflicts, they are known as the forgotten

I flew out to Cyprus in a DC6 aeroplane which took 8 hours because we had to stop twice for refuelling. The first stop was Zurich and the second Athens.

When we arrived at RAF Akrotiri airport and before I had disembarked the aeroplane and standing on Cypriot soil, my name was called by an airman named  Cyril Toms who I went to school with at Firle in 1946 He was in the RAF at Akrotiri, conscripted to do his National Service.   After collecting my kitbag I boarded a 3 ton Garry and was transported to

a tented transit camp just on the outskirts of Nicosia where we stayed for a week. During the time we were there we had no contact with anybody and nowhere to go to get any information. Other servicemen on the camp appeared to be more organized than us and were going about their business, but we felt as if we had been forgotten by everybody. Then eventually we were told to pack our gear and be ready at 10.00am to board a vehicle as  we were off to Pergamos 264 Signals Unit a detachment of Ayios Nikolaos a  canvas tented camp, better known as 4 mile point.

Our living quarters were fantastic, so much better than sleeping under canvas. Everything was modern, there were reading lamps above each bed and the beds had counterpanes on them. The windows had shutters to darken the room when we came off night shift (middles) to make sleeping easier during the day. The ablution facilities were fantastic and there was never a queue for bathing or using the wash basins. I would say it was LUXURY! In the first week I had to do a night guard duty protecting the camp water tower from becoming poisoned by EOKA. I was handed a 303 rifle and 10 rounds of ammunition and was informed that during the night I would be visited by two Turkish auxiliaries who would call a couple of times during the shift to check that I was okay. I was also told that the Night Orderly Officer would be making an appearance. As the Turks were approaching they made enough noise to let me know that they were coming and were calling out “It is only us Jonny” to be sure that I did not mistake them to be terrorists. It was a bit scarier when the Orderly Officer arrived as I had a certain procedure which I needed to follow and it was imperative that I got it right first time! On shouting Halt, Stamato, Dur in three languages and my rifle aiming at his head but with no round in the chamber I questioned him to whether he was a “Friend or Foe” and thankfully he said friend. Still aiming at his temple I told him to advance to be recognised, which he did and then I stood to attention and saluted him. After he had left I thought “What a brave person he is because who in their right mind would put their life at risk not knowing whether the guard would get things right OR wrong! Thankfully everything was alright on the night! Having finished my first guard the others were much easier to do.

PHOTO :-       Tom Dryden and myself.( I am the one on the right.)

During the first week of our arriving at Pergamos we were taken down to the compound where we would be working. The compound was a very secure area which was manned by RAF station police 24/7.On entering the building we collected a disc of identity from security and then we were allowed to enter through the electronic door and once through I was introduced to  Mr Peter Marychurch the  GCHQ civilian who was in charge of signals intelligence during 1958-1960. He becameDirector  of GCHQ 1983-1989.   He told us that when we were monitoring sigint we were civilians although we were in RAF uniform and then reverted to being RAF personnel when the shift ended. Apparently the Geneva Convention stipulated that only civilians would be allowed to Spy on Military, although I was unable to find any confirmation to that theory during my research, and the closest I managed to arrive at the civilian theory was when Gary Powers the pilot of the U2 Spy plane was a civilian and the U2 aeroplane that he flew was non-military and was shot down in Russia in 1959 by surface to air rockets. The two previous successful missions were piloted by RAF personnel who probably became civilians at the moment they entered the cockpit and sat at the controls!

We were told that during the night shifts while patrolling the outer fence the SAS would be paying a visit and would enter the compound not being detected and sure enough they managed to do it every time without any trace of how they managed to do it.

On the morning that I started working in the compound I was taken in to a soundproof wireless and linguists room and was given an operators number 103 and sat alongside the listener who was on duty at the time and I logged the same air traffic as he did and learnt the correct procedure and then we compared our work at the end of the shift and I had done well enough to be receiving on my own on the following shift.

I was at RAF Pergamos for 2 years and I was one of the first to know that on the 14th September 1959 around midnight the Russians had deliberately crash landed LUNA2 spacecraft on the moon . The transmitter sending the signal stopped on impact and nothing more was heard.

I also intercepted a message from the aircraft which had Nikita Khrushchev aboard who was on his way to Kiev.

On the 1^st of May 1960 while flying over Russian territory Gary Powers in a secret American SPY U2 aerial reconnaissance plane was struck by a surface to air missile and crashed. Powers bailed out and survived.

Prior to the American failure, RAF pilots flew the U2 SPY air reconnaissance plane for the CIA on two missions successfully. Powers was convicted of espionage and sentenced to 3 years imprisonment plus 7 years hard labour, but was released 2 years later in 1962 during a prisoner exchange for Soviet Officer Rudolf Abel. Although we were not able to listen in during the incident it became obvious that something was going on because the Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was kept busy travelling around the Soviet Union.

I remember an occasion when our watch was blessed with a replacement Flight Sergeant and he insisted that while we were on duty we were to be properly dressed at all times whereas before his arrival we wore sandals and were stripped down to our vests on middles shift (nights) but he demanded that we wore shoes, long KD trousers and long sleeved shirt between the hours of 11.00 PM and 0700 AM. At that time I had just been discharged from the camp hospital  after 14 days and was excused wearing shoes altogether because of an infection in one of my toes caused by a mosquito bite which caused my foot to swell leaving a hole in my little toe exposing the joint bone. I reported sick every day for a fortnight to have it dressed. We all continued to dress to his requirements as disobeying an order could be classed as mutiny if we had not been civilians but the Sergeant had not been informed that we were actually civilians while we were working on sigint. We decided amongst ourselves that every night that we had to comply with his orders of being properly dressed we would log on at 11.00pm and log off at 0700am with the words Nil Heard written between the duty times. After 4 nights had passed without Sigint being recorded is when the Flight Sergeant realized or was told that Signals Interception was more important than wearing shirts and ties. On the fifth night we were properly dressed and expecting to sign on and off as before when the Flight Sergeant relented saying “okay Lads, you win!”  so we reverted back to our casual way of dressing.

“On the 2nd of May 2018” :-  I received a comment from a technician who was stationed at Pergamos during my time and he questioned the authenticity of the “strike” which took place, saying that he would have known because it was his job to keep the receivers in good repair and would have been informed by the Warrant Officer  in charge if they  had malfunctioned. The W.O knew of our grievance ( I  regularly baby sat his children) and after 4 nights of “Nil Heard” I can only assume that the Warrant Officer had words with the  New Flight  Sergeant who on his arrival thought he would change the dress routine!

During my time at 264 Signals Unit in 1959 a Royal Air Force technician by the name of Douglas Britten worked in the communications room. He joined the RAF in 1949 at the age of 17 years as a boy entrant and had spent 20 years as a signals intelligence operator in some of the important listening stations. He worked at Pergamos 1956-1959 so he was leaving as I arrived, so we didn`t actually meet. He returned to Cyprus in 1962 until 1966 during which time he began a 6 year spying career for the Soviet Union. In 1962 the KGB the Russian Secret Service identified Britten as a likely recruit as he was an enthusiastic wireless ham. In 1962 while he was visiting the science museum in London he was approached by a Russian who introduced himself as Yuri who was also a radio ham and addressed Britten by his radio call sign. Golf 3 Kilo Foxtrot Lima. During the conversation Yuri asked Britten if he could obtain for him the operators handbook for a Racal 1154 radio transmitter as he was from the Ukraine and obtaining one there was difficult. Britten didn`t realize that he was being set-up and agreed to meet up again a month later at Southgate tube station. When they met Yuri walked up to Britten and without stopping said,” follow me at a twenty metre distance.” They walked for ages and then Yuri bent down to tie his shoelace and asked Britten if he managed to obtain the handbook and Britten confessed that he hadn`t. Yuri nevertheless handed an envelope containing £10 for his efforts. Britten mentioned in conversation that he was about to be posted to Cyprus and Yuri said that he would arrange a contact for when he arrived. What Britten didn`t know was that when he received the envelope containing the money from Yuri there was an accomplice who took photographs of the transaction. On his arrival in Cyprus he was accosted by another contact by the name Yuri!!  The KGB demanded that Britten would cooperate and provide details of signals intelligence activities and if he failed to supply then the evidence of the money transaction would be passed on to the British Intelligence. He was supplied with a camera to photograph the interior of 264 Signals Unit. He was also told to list the names of airmen working on intelligence who would be vulnerable to be recruited as spies for the Russians, airmen who were in debt or having affairs, bed- wetting and airmen who wanted to earn money. Britten was clear in his own mind that he was being used as a spotter for future potential talent and passed the names of three airmen at Pergamos who he thought could be recruited by them. Britten`s contact failed to turn up and missed several meetings so Britten decided to go to Bayswater Road and phone the Soviet c Consulate to find out why his contact had not turned up. He also wrote a letter to his contact saying he was desperate for money and delivered it by hand to the Consulate where he was photographed from a covert MI 5 observation post and he hadn`t reckoned on the telephone-call to the Consulate being intercepted. MI 5 worked frantically to identify the mysterious caller and visitor to the Soviet Consulate and by August 1968 Britten was located and MI 5 arrested him in September and a cache of espionage apparatus was recovered. On November 4^th Britten pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey and said that he felt a great sense of relief at finally being caught and was sentenced to 21 years imprisonment. Alexsandr Borisenko, Britten`s contact left London for Moscow six days after Britten first appeared in court!!

This could have happened to anyone who was caught off guard by the Soviets who used a friendly initial approach with the intention of trapping and recruiting servicemen to work for them and once hooked they did as they were told or paid the penalty and it seems that the Russians stopped at nothing to make sure they got their man even, going as far as threatening family members.

I have incorporated several scanned photographs of my time spent in Cyprus which I hope will bring back a few memories.

In March 1961 I left Cyprus and went to RAF Innsworth where I was demobbed. I was told that I should seek advice from Gloucester before attempting to visit any Iron Curtain country because the Russians would know all of my particulars and would most probably arrest me in Customs.  I was given a form to apply for a job at GCHQ, another form for RAF Digby, one for the Police Force and one for the Prison Service and foolishly I chose to ignore all of them. Before leaving I was reminded that I had signed the Official Secrets Act. I was told that I was on H reserve and wouldn`t be required to attend yearly camps. Although it says E reserve in my (certificate of service booklet) also it states that my trade as a WOP ( A ) advanced is a WOP (AIR) without the Wings badge and it also failed to recognize that I qualified to wear a GSM. It was only when I contacted RAF Innsworth in 1995 that I became aware of these errors. I handed in my uniform except the shoes which I was allowed to keep and made my way to Gloucester railway station.

When I arrived home I was asked what I did while I was in the RAF and without going into great detail I said “I suppose you could say that I was a Spy!” Nobody took it seriously and it always created a laugh when it was mentioned so I never spoke of it.

As the years passed it went out of my mind but in 1995 Fifty years celebrations after the WW2 had ended I became very interested to find out more about what I actually did in the forces, so I decided to contact Innsworth Historians. They didn`t disclose that 264 SU was part of GCHQ or that I was a civilian whilst I was at work and were unable to tell me which command 264 SU came under. Perhaps they didn`t know the answer until later years because of the secrecy aspect. I have since researched my stay at 264SU and now know that 264^th Signals Squadron was involved with 264 Signals

Unit-RAF33 Signals unit-RAF Ayios Nikolaos- Mount Olympus and the fifth unit being its own communications support in the form o f 264 SAS Signals Squadron with GCHQ being the Overseer .This information clarifies why the SAS managed to enter 264 SU without any detection on every occasion. It was because they had passed through the main gate legitimately. Also it was confirmed to me by an Army Serviceman working with 2 Wireless Regiment in 1957 which was renamed 9 Signals and was operating at 4 mile point / Ayios Nikolaos and worked in

conjunction with 264^th SAS Signals Squadron RAF Hereford.

During my research I was unable to obtain any information regarding badge recognition for RAF Ayios Nikolaos- 33 Signals Unit and Mount Olympus who were part of Signals Command as were all Sigint listening stations between 1958 and 1969 who were responsible for the control of all signals units and was based at  Medmenham Marlow Buckinghamshire. The  Blazer Badge Motto:  Aetherem Vincere. I did obtain the 264 Signals unit blazer badge which was commissioned in 1963 being a Leopards head with 8 strikes of lightening protruding from it and the Motto being  : UYANIK  which in Turkish means AWAKE or CONSCIOUS.

The person on the left in the photograph is David Gunning who worked alongside me on RAVY who I hadn`t seen since my demob in 1961 until he turned up at my 60^th birthday party which had been arranged without my knowledge by my wife Joy. David and his wife stayed overnight with us and we have been to visit them in Oxford and we still keep in contact by exchanging Christmas cards and yearly updates.

Researched 2013-2014:4239501 SAC Hare WoP (A) 264 SU  :1959-1961

 

 

Having finished researching 264 SU in 2014 I came across a website (National Service plus 1 year for me – Rich Dolman)  which was published in 2013 and I couldn`t stop reading because I thought he was writing about my time in the RAF, apart from a few alterations it is virtually the same. I placed a comment on his blog and the following day he replied and we are hoping to get together soon to reminisce. He used the same wireless receiver as I did and there is every possibility that in 1959 I was the wireless operator who took over from him on night shifts until he was demobbed in September 1959, if correct it will be one hell of a coincidence and I have passed to him the information of my research during 2012-2014 and I hope he will select some of the interesting information and include it for his followers to read, on his well established Blog.

The “264 Signals Unit Blazer Badge” was the first confirmed information of my research which Rich has used at the beginning of his Blog and I hope he will continue to pass on information to other WOPs as I am sure that many of them were not aware of the full extent of our activities during our time at Pergamos.

 

 

More photos taken during my time in Cyprus :-

 

 

(Jim the Scot and me celebrating. Is it the Two JOHN`s sitting behind me?)

 

 

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YEAR  2018 – now 80 years old

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-Russian nerve agent (not gas) used to attempt to murder Russian spy and daughter. Russia denies any involvement. RAF listening station based in Cyprus tells a different story !!!  Apparently a Royal Air Force Sergeant  an ELINT  operator intercepted coded message on 3rd March and another on 4th

 

Earlier in My Blog I explained why we protested about wearing Khaki Drill uniform on Night Shift (middles)

On May 2nd  2018 I received a comment from a Technician questioning the authenticity of  the strike which took place at 264 signals unit in 1959/ 1960. during his time and he made a point of doubting whether it happened,because he would have been informed by the Duty Warrant Officer that the receivers were down, but  the W.O was aware of our protest and  he allowed it to run its course and it was not reported because  the equipment  functioned okay and we listened to the G.O.S General Overseas Service for most of the shift and after the fourth shift we were back to normal,without causing embarrassment to the New Flight Sergeant. All personnel were civilians  whilst working on Sigint with GCHQ. We received our wages from a “Commissioned Officer” without having to wear a beret or saluting and  saying    “Thank You Sir,” was sufficient.

January 2020 :- Now 81 years old, I decided  to take a three minute test  to see if I still had the ability to read and log morse code @ 18 WPM and was surprised that I passed 100%.

I have attended  the Remembrance Day parade at the cenotaph Whitehall London 5 times now. I am one of  the 10,oo0 personel taking part  each year and I have noticed  “Ex .National Servicemen”are thin on the ground and it will not be long  before they become extinct, but still remembered!

I have  already applied for a ticket for this year 2020 Remembrance Day, hoping I will be considered if it  does go ahead, no doubt with a  much  reduced parade attendance due to Covid19.

The  “Parade”  would be marching at the requested 1 metre social distance from all sides , which is the normal spacing prior to the march -off. Of course the public will no doubt be required to wear face masks and by doing so, it might remind them that they are expected to abide by the social distancing rule.