George.Hackwell.Burns
Born 29/ 01/1918
In Grove Rd .Little Thurrock.Grays.Essex.
My Mother was Frances Burns
My Father was Ted Burns
My dear mother had 7 boys and 4 girls. Life was very hard for my mother and father to feed and clothe us all. Our front door was allways open for friends and neighbours you could trust all of them .My father would see my sisters were in at a certain time every night .He worked in Tilbury docks repairing ships, when he came home from work 5-30 to 6 oclock he would ask me or my young brothers to clean his nails on all his fingers with a match stick they would get really dirty,I must have been 9 or ten years old.he loved sundays he would ask mum to dress us up to take us out just the three young ones he loved to show us off to his friends ,he would take us to the beach and say off shoes and socks paddle your fet it is good for your feet, he loved to see my mum dressed up too then we would walk home for sunday dinner .He would then go to bed till about five .My mother was a rock what a mother -she looked after all of us my sisters were good they would help mum then they got married, we had good weddings my father would drink and get a bit violent .One time he and my elder brother came to blows because my dad was nasty to my mum but the next day dad told us young ones to go to my brothers house to see if he was alright, my eldest brother was not at home much he went on the ships to sea as an engineer ,came back and joind the police in london got hurt and retired then got a job as a travelling sailsman.My other brothers went away to sea all got married and had children of there own .Time goes on and dad worked hard.
I think i was ten we had a good christmas,on christmas night very late i heard a lot of noise and crying,My brother came in our bedroom and said to me and my two young brothers we must be strong for my mothers sake and that dad had passed away . i remember thinking what does he mean has he gone, i wanted to see mum but my brother said leave it for a while.When we did see mum her eyes were red we cuddled her and told her we would look after her ,our sisters made a fuss of us. Never forget the funeral ,anyway we did not stay in that house .Mum got a council house in Wallace rd Grays ,it was a nice house and we were happy there,my sisters were near to us,my sister Anne was with my mum all the time slept in the same bedroom .im afraid i was not a lot of help to my mum ,i was young and stupid ,did things and made my mum unhappy .I got in with my friend Wally Southgate ,we were like brothers and Noggles Stenhouse he lived with his mother and sister ,Noggles had been in a lot of trouble with the police but he was a god mate,he was tough,he'd been put in a home for bad boys,he had won a lot of trophies for boxing.The police were allways after him ,he got in with a woman who the police knew and he used to hide in her cellar,the police could not find him .We had a lot of fun,,he had a girl her name was Vera ,a good kind girl ,she had a little boy by Noggles ,the little boy got a disease and died ,broke Vera up .By this time i had joined the territorial army 1939 ,we were on a months training about 20miles from home, we were there about three weeks when war broke out from then on i was in the army .Had to wait for orders to come through to what was going to happen ,went to an army barraks in Pitsy for training ,I was in the R.E. While there I whent A.W.O.L. I did not want to leave home ,my sisters convinced me to go back,they came to Grays railway station to see me off ,got on the train and got off the other side ,met my sisters outside the station ,they cried ,pleaded with me to go back and I said I would go back the next day ,they were there to see me off .
When I got back to camp I was put in a cell by the millitary police to wait for my trial.I was senenced to a month in a detention centre but all the detention places were full up,so the army took over Hull prison in Yorkshire,thats were I had to go .I had two millitary policeman to take methey were ok ,I had my kit bagand as soon as they opened the big doors to the prison a sargent was shouting Pick up your kit bag and run,thats how it was all the time I was in there,the sargents in there in charge were the most horrible people in the world .I was on a landing with about 20 or 25 cells,I thought my world had ended ,every morning there was shouting .The sargents were there 6 oclock they would have all the razors to shave,they would start one end by the time they got the other end they would come back to collect the razors,,you had to be shaved with cold water and the blades were never changed,all the time I was in there every day I cut myself,just had to put up with it .There were two people in each cell they stuck a Polish airman in with me ,he was a nice bloke but could not speak hardly any English,they let him have a dictionary so he could learn English and the staff sargent asked me to teach as well,I can still remember his name Josegh.We were let out in the morning in the grounds .There was a big patch of ground covered in cinders ,there was a big roller and a dozen of us had to pull the roller over the cinders,flatten them and a dozen more would rake it all up again ,maybe we would do that 2 or 3 times then one would read us the news out of the papers about the war.That was every day this happened.Our belt and webbing had to be pure White and boots,see your face i them.A week before I was released the staff sargent came to me ,i am taking you out to my house to dig a hole in his garden to put an air raid shelter in.Around his house he was very nice his wife gave me food and drink,I went there every day untill it was time for me to go back to my camp.They gave me a train ticket and some sandwiches and took me to the station.
It was quite a long journey back but i did not go back to camp,I went home first for a while it was so good to see my mum and family.Then I went back to camp started doing training.We then got orders to move ,we then went to Wales for more training to a place called Sennybridge,we were there for a while they changed our regiment from R.E. to the R.A.royal artillary to search lights .We moved again to Devon,we were in a place near collompton called Blackbourogh hills ,in a field there was only about 15 to 20 soldiers ,there one of them was called Buck Ryan .We were like brothers we shared everything.While I was there I met my wife we got married in a small town called Tiverton,Buck was my best man ,my mum could not get there it was too far to come .My brother Fred who was in the airforce police camehe was on leave,my friend Wally Southgate came.My wife lived in a village called Halberton,she had 3 brothers and 3 sisters and they were all wonderfull people.Her mum and dad were great they lived at the end of a country lane,they had 2 pigs loads of chickens ,it was a wonderfull place to be.We had to pump up the water ,the water was so lovely to drink,lovely food grew all his own vegetables.She had a sister Enid liveing there with her husband,a great friend he was in the army he was irish and he was in airborne regiment,what a man,we used to go to the pub and play darts.He went to Arnhem as dispatch rider,i'll tell you later what happened to him.Now i want to carry on and tell you what happened to us.I came home on leave for 2 weeks and I did not want to go back so I went A.W.O.L. again.I knew I would be in trouble but did not care.We woke up one day and at the door were 2 millitary police in a truck,I had to go with them I was kept under guard for about a week.
