Protected occupations in the World Wars
Discussion
My dad was in a reserved occupation during the war. He was evacuated at thirteen from Croydon to Byfleet where the father of the household was one of the Foremen at Vickers of Weybridge. The old boy took a shine to my dad and a few rules were bent to start him as a much younger than usual apprentice at the Vickers factory at Brooklands where he worked mainly on Wellingtons. Despite working on much needed aeroplanes, his conscience told him to fight and he tried repeatedly to join up, but was always rejected. Towards the end of the war he was trying to become a submariner!
Almost immediately the war ended he was sent his papers for National Service and - I recognise the reaction I would have here - he refused on the grounds that he'd been trying to join up since was old enough. He got away with it.
His career was in aeroplane structures, including that most important structure, the seats. He was responsible for removing the horizontal member from seat structures that used to break people's shins in crash landings. He also did some car seats including the Mk IV Sunbeam Alpine. The basic structure of that seat survived for a long time and was used by Ford for many years. For all I know it may still be in use.
He had so much energy as a young man. I remember most mornings he would get out of bed, run a few steps across the landing and slide to the bathroom on the lino. Despite being a "morning person," I have never felt that good first thing.
Nowadays, like many who didn't see action, he is maudlin about what he sees as his failure to fight for his country as his father and father in law had in the First War and most of his contemporaries did in the Second. He and my my mother retired to Devon where, his energy all gone, he now spends far too much time in the bar of the local yacht club.
No, actually, thinking about it, that's not such a bad end.
Almost immediately the war ended he was sent his papers for National Service and - I recognise the reaction I would have here - he refused on the grounds that he'd been trying to join up since was old enough. He got away with it.
His career was in aeroplane structures, including that most important structure, the seats. He was responsible for removing the horizontal member from seat structures that used to break people's shins in crash landings. He also did some car seats including the Mk IV Sunbeam Alpine. The basic structure of that seat survived for a long time and was used by Ford for many years. For all I know it may still be in use.
He had so much energy as a young man. I remember most mornings he would get out of bed, run a few steps across the landing and slide to the bathroom on the lino. Despite being a "morning person," I have never felt that good first thing.
Nowadays, like many who didn't see action, he is maudlin about what he sees as his failure to fight for his country as his father and father in law had in the First War and most of his contemporaries did in the Second. He and my my mother retired to Devon where, his energy all gone, he now spends far too much time in the bar of the local yacht club.
No, actually, thinking about it, that's not such a bad end.
I'd always got the impression that one Grandad managed to shirk out of joining up..... turns out he used to drive his truck from Leeds to London every night carrying stuff he wasn't allowed to know about.... so guess it must have been important.
The other one managed a machine shop of some description making engine parts for the war effort.
No war stories when I was growing up..... but I guess that's why I'm here.
The other one managed a machine shop of some description making engine parts for the war effort.
No war stories when I was growing up..... but I guess that's why I'm here.
Cock Womble 7 said:
DickyC said:
Nowadays, like many who didn't see action, he is maudlin about what he sees as his failure to fight for his country
He shouldn't be. He did his bit.A chap I knew, a bit older than my dad, who flew as wireless operator/gunner in North Africa, bizarrely, felt much the same. In his view his squadron had a fairly easy time compared to most; the Germans were in retreat and they flew day after day in Bostons to speed them on their way with bombs and machine guns. Half the squadron flew one day, and half the next. One day they were attacked very hard by the Luftwaffe. One plane made it back and few of the crew of shot down planes got back on foot. The Germans, with their dwindling resources, could only hit individual targets one at a time, rather than any sustained campaigns. Today was their day to be attacked.
It was his day off.
Sixty three active missions and the worst he had was a broken ankle after a heavy landing. He never forgave himself.
Paternal grandfather was in the Leeds police. Maternal grandfather made optical equipoment in Leeds, which I presume made his occupation protected.
There is a family story that one of my great-uncles was put on a charge during The Great War for selling his donkey to a French peasant....
There is a family story that one of my great-uncles was put on a charge during The Great War for selling his donkey to a French peasant....
Tom_C76 said:
He served several tours as a tailgunner in a Lanc but still survived the war, hence I exist at all. Never would talk about what he did though, saw it as necessary rather than anything to be proud of.
Same here (tail gunner with 617 but not on the dam raids), I think one of the reasons he didn't really speak about it was due to the huge amount of mates he lost.Paternal grandfather was a farmer and I think was a bit too old to have joined up anyway.
My maternal grandfather was in the merchant navy. He got put on the wrong ship, the one he was meant to be on was torpedoed and he ended up in Argentina for a lot of the war. He kept a diary which contained all the u-boat sightings they had. It's really fascinating stuff.
I don't know what Dads Dad did, although he owned a motorbike shop after the war so was probably a mechanic of some sort. I'll have to find out one day..
I don't know what Dads Dad did, although he owned a motorbike shop after the war so was probably a mechanic of some sort. I'll have to find out one day..
Maternal grandfather was a miner, paternal was a teacher, so both in reserved occupations. I must say I was slightly surprised teaching was a reserved occupation but he would have been 38 at the outbreak of WW2 so probably a bit old to be called up anyway.
Both my grandmothers had brothers who served, one killed as part of the rear guard at Dunkirk - he was in the teaching game as well, a Professor of History at Oxford, but only in his late 20s at the start of the war; the other went down in a submarine in the Med.
My grandfather had brothers as well, but two of them were surgeons so they were probably kept quite busy and the other was an engineer and worked on code breaking, minesweeping and interrogation of German POWs. He died last year and his obits tell me more about his life than I ever knew before. Which is quite sad really.
Both my grandmothers had brothers who served, one killed as part of the rear guard at Dunkirk - he was in the teaching game as well, a Professor of History at Oxford, but only in his late 20s at the start of the war; the other went down in a submarine in the Med.
My grandfather had brothers as well, but two of them were surgeons so they were probably kept quite busy and the other was an engineer and worked on code breaking, minesweeping and interrogation of German POWs. He died last year and his obits tell me more about his life than I ever knew before. Which is quite sad really.
Both of my grandparents were in reserved occupations... Maternal grandfather was a pilot at the Royal London docks, and the other who was disabled in an accident before the war anyway, had prior to that worked at the Woolwich Arsenal (my parents still have a hand grenade converted to a cigarette lighter by the fireplace!), so he returned to working in armament manufacturing but in Plymouth having moved the family temporarily to Cornwall.
Mr E said:
Maternal grandfather was merchant navy. So not services, but somewhat near the front lines...
Paternal grandfather was in India in the army. I don't believe he ever saw any action.
I wouldn’t count on that.Paternal grandfather was in India in the army. I don't believe he ever saw any action.
My Grandfather also served in India and we also thought he hadn’t seen any action. He spoke of India, but never of going anywhere to do any fighting. A lot of men simply didn’t want to talk of their experiences so they edited their story to avoid questions that made them remember the nasty bits.
Occasionally there were vague inconsistencies in Granddads stories. Finally my Uncle caught him out, but it took about 35 years to get it out of him.
Very few Battalions were actually kept in India throughout the whole war. Most Battalions sent to India were rotated between India and the Middle East to fight the Turks. India was closer through the Suez Canal, safer from U-boats and they stayed acclimatised to the heat. Even when men were in a Battalion that stayed in India throughout, the men would sometimes be transferred between Battalions within the same Regiment to replace casualties.
Finally the war ended and they started to be demobbed and sent home. A lucky few had already left India when the Third Afghan war kicked off in 1919. So they had the demob cancelled and they all rushed back to the North West frontier for some more fighting after everyone else had finished or were just occupation troops in Germany.
It turned out Granddad had fought in Palestine, Mesopotamia (now Iraq) and Afghanistan. Nothing changes.
Uncle Fester said:
Mr E said:
Maternal grandfather was merchant navy. So not services, but somewhat near the front lines...
Paternal grandfather was in India in the army. I don't believe he ever saw any action.
I wouldn’t count on that.Paternal grandfather was in India in the army. I don't believe he ever saw any action.
My Granddad was an engineer on the Railways so was protected from having to join up.
After a few months of watching ‘the boys’ all going off to war he couldn’t take it anymore and joined up. Ended up in a variety of ‘interesting’ position including being at the D-Day landings setting up the floating pontoons for the attack force.
He was also on his way out to the far east when the bomb was dropped, needless to say they were turned around and sent home……..close escape there I think.
After a few months of watching ‘the boys’ all going off to war he couldn’t take it anymore and joined up. Ended up in a variety of ‘interesting’ position including being at the D-Day landings setting up the floating pontoons for the attack force.
He was also on his way out to the far east when the bomb was dropped, needless to say they were turned around and sent home……..close escape there I think.
Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff