After leaving Scotland we docked at Liverpool early in June and we were amazed to see a band playing us in. I have never been able to fathom this out, perhaps it was because we happened to be amongst some of the first forces to return home from abroad, this being due to the Gold Coast only being an 18 month stint, whereas the majority of forces personnel went to North Africa and the Middle East and that area principally was a 3-year stretch before returning home. Whatever the reasons it was nice to be welcomed home.

We disembarked and went to a holding station I think it was at Sephton Park, Liverpool, where we were sorted out into our different trades. Our section M.T. (Motor Transport) was taken to one room, where we were told that 5 M.T. Company headquarters was based in the Liverpool area. This consisted of four R.A.F. bases, Number 1 section was situated at Aintree racecourse, Number 2 section at Sephton Park, Number 3 section was at Birkenhead, and Number 4 section was based at Southport on what used to be the site of the old fairground. (I think that the existing fairground today stands on the same site). We were told that heavy goods drivers were needed at all of these bases, so we would be given a choice of base but this wouldn’t be final as it would depend on how many personnel were needed at each base. Our names were taken together with our choice of base, we were then told to collect our rail and bus passes and our money grants and were then sent on leave.
I’m not sure at this time how much leave we got it could have been 4 or 5 weeks. During that time we would be notified when and where we would be posted to. On the way home I remember thinking how lucky I was, as any of the four bases where all within 30 miles from my home in Lathom near Skelmersdale. Being based so near to home was fantastic.
After the welcome when I arrived home, I remember my mother saying to me,"You’re as yellow as a marigold". I had forgotten just how yellow my skin had become and how different to those at home it looked. "It’s all that Quinine I’ve had to take every day" I said. My mum didn’t like my new colour and said "Reet it’s ab’aht time we built you up".

I spent most of my leave with Edna making up for the time we had been apart. I also made contact with my two mates Peter and Jimmy, who kept me up to date with what had happened while I was away. (Peter was not conscripted due having suffered from Tuberculosis (TB) when he was younger, which went into the bone of his leg and left him with a stiff leg and a limp and Jimmy suffered from ill health and only had one working lung and therefore failed his medical.) I got the full details of how Liverpool and several other cities in the U.K had been blasted by German bombers, with London getting the worst of the bombing. There were lots of American G.I.s in the country, with many based at Burtonwood near Warrington. There was talk of an invasion being prepared and Jimmy told me of a plane that had crashed close by at the ‘Moss’ a favourite haunt that we both used to fish. At this time I am not sure whether the plane was one of our’s or an enemy plane. I was also filled in with all the local gossip.

My home leave passed all too quickly and before I knew it I had received my official letter to report to Number 4 section of 5 M.T. Company at Southport. I was glad that I had been given my choice of posting as my next plan was to see if I could be billeted at home. The morning arrived when I had to make my way to Southport. It must have been late July or early August 1943, and I grabbed my kitbag and went to the bottom of Sandy Lane in Skelmersdale and caught the five minutes to seven Ribble bus to Southport, it cost me 1s.11p return.
I wasn’t too sure when I got off the bus exactly where the R.A.F. station was so I asked the driver. I noticed when I first saw the station that there were quite a number of 60ft Queen Mary articulated units - complete with trailers parked around the perimeter. There was also a couple of Queen Elizabeth units and trailers. These vehicles were specially made to transport aircraft fuselages and wings to assembly points.

Apparently apart from the drivers there were only a few office staff, vehicle mechanics and officers in charge at the base. I made myself known to the Flight Sergeant in the main office and he took all my details and he wanted to know what vehicles I had been driving and when I told him about the Allan Taylor trailers and Ford units I had driven in West Africa, he said "That’s great you’ll have no trouble handling the Queen Mary’s". He then asked me what the Allan Taylor carriers were like as he had never had any contact with them. We had a lengthy chat and then changing the subject I asked him where the billets were, he said that they didn’t have billets on the station and that with Southport being a seaside resort, the lads were billeted with local landladies as they had been in Blackpool. Right away I took the initiative and asked him would it be possible for me to be billeted at home. I told him I lived just a few miles down the road. I thought my request was fairly reasonable as I was also willing to pay my bus fare to and fro. The flight sergeant said he would let me know, probably the next day. Happily my request was granted, as long as I was willing to pay my travel costs. I knew I would not be at home each night, as I would be away from the base most of the time due to preparations that were being made for a future invasion.

From then on was a busy time for all of us, we were given orders to pick up aircraft parts from several points. We would pick up engines from Napier’s factory in Liverpool and also from Lostock near Bolton. There was always queues at Liverpool docks with several private lorries waiting to pick up large wooden boxes of glider parts, which all had to be delivered to various points down the south of England for the invasion.
I personally delivered many large boxes of glider parts, shipped in to Liverpool docks from America and took them to Newbury. I remember being amazed at the sight of acres and acres of fields covered with these large glider boxes at this storage point. All these gliders were awaiting assembly and were then to be towed, then flown silently behind enemy lines dropping parachutists.

I was also a regular visitor to Metropolitan Vickers Factory in Trafford Park, Manchester to deliver and pick up parts, so much so that I knew all the office staff quite well and by their first names. I soon realised that being in uniform was an attraction for the girls and I could have had a few dates if I had been inclined, but I was already spoken for. Anyway to move on, we were kept busy moving equipment from various docks in Liverpool and Birkenhead. All of the 5 M.T. Company vehicles were picking up wartime parts from factories all over the north of England.
There were times when I had been delivering down south for several days and as it was late when I was travelling back, I would carry on home to Lathom instead of going to base. I would park the trailer on some spare land close to home and unhitch the unit after putting the landing wheels on the front of the trailer down, and take the unit and park it overnight in the driveway at home, ready for an early start on the following morning, back to base for further orders.

Finally D-day arrived 6th June 1944, the rest is history and I won’t go into this except to say, as we all know, this was the beginning of the end of the war in Europe. I also had other things on my mind, my forth-coming marriage to Edna. We had put the banns up a few weeks back and now it was getting quite near the day 1st July 1944. There were quite a lot of arrangements to be made; Edna had already sorted some of these out with the help of both families. There was not much I could have done being so busy with R.A.F. duties. I had applied for a short leave of absence to get married and when the day finally arrived, we were married in St Paul’s Church in Skelmersdale and after the ceremony there was the usual reception in a local hall, which was quite good in spite of the rationing.

Families and friends had got together and done a good job with the food. As for the honeymoon we made do with a few days at Blackpool. Then Edna moved from her home and came to live with me at the smallholding in Lathom with my mother, dad and brother Joe.