Volunteers Are Never Accepted
Volunteers Are Never Accepted
There was a belief in the RAF ( and possibly in the other forces) that if you want to do something or go anywhere never answer the call to volunteer. The powers that be usually selected someone who didn’t volunteer.

I had hoped to visit other places in the world when I joined up instead of being in Yorkshire for two and a half years. So, not knowing about not volunteering, I volunteered to go to the Christmas Islands for the nuclear bomb tests. I don’t know why armourers were needed but it seemed like a nice place to go. After a long wait I was told I wouldn’t be going as I was needed at Leconfield.

Then volunteers were requested for the Woomera Rocket range tests in Australia so in goes my request again. One of the requirements was that the armourers had to be Senior Aircraftsmen and I was waiting for the results of the SAC tests to come through. I came back off leave in January and was told that I was now an SAC. I reported back to the armoury and the sergeant told me get all my gear packed. I asked him why and he said that as I was now an SAC I was qualified to go to Woomera. I felt great and started back to my billet when he shouted after me, “ Aye, that’ll be the day !” and started laughing. I was never nearer getting court- martialled for hitting an NCO.

I felt quite depressed after this but just had to carry on. It was not until a great many years later that I heard that many of the personnel who had gone to Christmas Island and Woomera had been exposed to radioactivity and were possibly guinea pigs. Many of them contracted cancer and other crippling illnesses and died in their 50s. So someone must have been looking out for me. Somehow I got selected to have a day out at the seaside or, namely, the bombing range on the east coast. A squad of us were to search for unexploded 25lb practice bombs which had failed to go off on impact. We were told there was no danger and, as we were handling these on a daily basis, we were not concerned, until we arrived at the range and saw the long grass where the bombs  were. Anyway we combed the area for some hours and gathered all the bombs in one place where they were destroyed by explosives. What worried us a little was that aircraft from the airfield was still flying over the range and we hoped that they were not going to drop bombs, which they didn’t. What a lovely day at the seaside !
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