Eighteen years old, my life set for a change,
National Service for me, came into range
To serve Queen and country when given the date,
But there was no vote for me with a say in the State.

A week ‘kitting out’ and much lazing about,
Time there in limbo before the corporals shout,
Middle of winter next the Manchester Ship Canal,
RAF Padgate was where I found my travail.

Boots for square bashing and rifle drill too,
We never stopped, there was so much to do,
PT and class rooms, time on the firing range,
Looking back now it all seems very strange.

We passed out in the New Year, we’d made the first grade,
Then on to our new camps, to learn a new trade,
I went to Kirkham, workshops and lessons day after day,
I was learning to be an armourer the RAF way.

Three months I spent there, with Blackpool just ten mile,
Compared to harsh Padgate, the living was high style,
Accommodation was basic but discipline was slack,
But life was good there when now I look back.

We passed the course and went our different ways,
To new bases for our operational RAF days,
Some went abroad and some stayed in the UK.
I went North Weald, my home just ten miles away!

Three squadrons of jet fighters flew from there,
Gloster Meteors were the planes we kept in the air,
Two were auxiliary, the other was headed for fame,
With the new Hunter’s and Black Arrows for a name.

I wasn’t aware when I was based at that station,
What North Weald had meant to our Nation,
It played its part in The Battle of Britain
For there in history books, its part is written.

Pilots died and on the ground lives were at a loss,
When the airfield was twice bombed by the Bosch,
Norwegian pilots from there flew proving their worth,
Now, a memorial marks their time on this earth.

Sometimes I yearn for those days back in my past,
Of that open airfield and the fresh smell of grass,
When aircraft took off and flew just like birds,
How it makes me feel, well I’m just lost for words.

I don’t regret those days in ‘the mob’, not at all,
I emerged as a man and I’d learnt to walk tall,
I now wear my Veterans badge, I wear it with pride
And think of fellow airmen who for this country died.

Written and illustrated by Will Roe 26th July 2021.