Back in Folkestone Don Aiken, of Kirkham in Lancashire, arrived to join the 61st Recce. He had worked as a fireman before his call-up to the Army. After Primary Training in Catterick he had a grim time in Scarborough with the 63rd Reconnaissance Training Unit before completing his training as a Driver/Radio Operator back at Catterick.
“From Catterick I was posted to the 61st.Reconnaissance Regt. who were encamped in Shorncliffe Camp, near Folkestone.”
“As my new regiment had been left undisturbed for a very unusual length of time, the troops had become very accustomed to each other and had grown into a close, even clannish, relationship. This made it very difficult for newcomers to be an accepted part of their lives, especially if the interloper was a young 'new recruit'.
Although I was accepted quite readily as a member of the Troop to which I was assigned, and was never given any sort of hard time, it seemed a long time before I too became part of the clan.
We didn't stay in any location for very long. Just a few weeks at a time before we moved on from one Nissen hutted camp to another. Whittlesford, near Cambridge, and Brandon, Norfolk, came next.”
(Republished from the BBC People's War website by kind permission of Don Aiken)
Don Aiken
See Don Aiken’s vivid account of 61st Recce from January 1944 on the BBC History People's War website .
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