Discusses meeting film stars and working on logistics for troop movements

So anyways, that's the man they couldn't hang. That's Cliff Hail, Corporal Drain, Jack Birkett , Ken Shakespeare who would neither touch nor handle or drink beer or handle or touch or smoke cigarettes, Ken Shakespeare came to the beam, that's sergeant flight sergeant White and that's, whos that, that's Lewis there was a Grepson Lewis, and I could never tell which was which, an' there he is John Banham who came from Manchester and he was the German Eins Zwei. And many years later, I was in the library in Dunfermline eh and I was looking through this book - of everythings - I bought it for sale you know. And this is Travemunde, about the beach of Travemunde, what does it say eh a resort on the Baltic Sea coast. So it wasn't like that when we were there, honest. That is, now this chap, that's him Jack Taylor there he was a wireless man and I lost touch with him, and Tom Watson put me in touch. An he now broadcasts on Radio Norfolk. That's him Jack, he was known then as, he's known now as John Taylor, but we used to call him Jack Taylor. That is a Type 15, there's the cabin and all this was dismantled and that is the lorry that I made most of my journey through France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. This is on the banking outside the hut, I forget his name, Jimmy Cowan a butcher from Edinburgh, me, Allan Hind from Wilmslow he married his cousin so his uncle became his father-in-law, and eh that's Pat Hardy and these boys are named there they were attached to us.

Right now. When the wa-, war was over I came back. It was either lounging around and doing nothing in Travemunde or coming back to the UK, so I re-mustered as a DI, Drill Instructor, but I would have had to come back to the UK, because my mother had passed away. It was 2 issues an that and that's me and my merry men at Sudbury. Now eh the historical radar archives, I met up with them, Ian Brown a nice chappie he's now the deputy curator at East Fortune where Britania the Concord is held there. So he got me write all this, I won't call it rubbish, eh my memorys bad, I'm looking for a certain letter.

We used to have a song:

We are Jim Poulter's Army/
No earthly good are we /
We cannot shoot /
We cannot fight /
No earthly good are we /
And when we get to Berlin /
Old Adolf he will cry /
Hock, hock, mein Gott /
What a bloody fine lot /
Is Jim Poulter's great army.

Any stories about any of the guys in the, in your units or any other close shaves? It doesn't have to be anything that is in there. Just something you remember or … funny moments … sad moments.

Yes I'll tell you one, its an interesting thing, I'd like to find this one first, I've had some of these out - here it is.

This is from Ian Brown the historical radar archive, he says he asked me to write the thing in this book here, this is a letter to thank you both very much formally and personally for your extremely kind donation of copies of your photographs relating to 15054 FDP to the archive, these photos provide an invaluable record of this unit for the archive combined with your account of the life of an airman add tremendously to the information and images available in John Kemps book Off to war with 054, there was only one copy in Fife at the library anyway, it was at Falkland and it got sold for about 5 bob in Dunfermline. That was a good book. Right. Ok It included a marvellous selection from 15128 GCI that stands for Ground Control Interception. 15054 FDP is a particularly important unit. The publication of John Kemp's book has meant that it probably the best known of the mobile units in the campaign in North West Europe, but it is also amongst the most successful as such it is important that the unit is properly recorded in the archive both visually and historically, thanks to your generosity this has been achieved.

Right now eh. We used to move up and sometimes they used to get a little bit lost and Ashgill and Hind, Hind - Ashgill - didn't drive and Ashgill did and the diesel generator on the back of the Austin lorry we used to stack the cans of diesel all round about it and the back and they used to have these flaps down the sides you see. The idea being when the diesel generator arrived at the new station, the new site the diesel oil was there for running everything. So Ashgill and Hind or should I say Hind and Ashgill were going along the road and this army boy flagged them down and he says have you any diesel - he had a diesel lorry very few of the you see - I can't get any diesel for my lorry and I'm stuck can you supply me. So Ashgill and Hind says What have you got to pay for it. This is where the soldier slipped up, I've got 2 bottles of wine you can have 1 of them. Ashgill and Hind says we're having both of them. They wanted one each not half a bottle each. So eventually the poor soul had to ah part with his 2 bottles of wine and Hind - Hind says right there you are matey help yourself to the diesel. And we were supposed to be fighting on the same side. Aye that's one of them. All right.

Ah met Ah met eh o dear what was the name. James Stewart and Deborah Kerr. I was walking through Brussels on one of my leaves and Deborah Kerr says hello boys ah says hello, and I says to my pal who's that he says that's Deborah Kerr. So I had the pleasure privilege of saying hello to Deborah Kerr.