'I'd never been further than Blackpool'
Ken Knowles was Warrant Officer First Class (Conductor) of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps
David Waters
- Kate Battersby
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Ken Knowles served in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, which is responsible for supplying weapons, ammunition and equipment to the Army. He’s now 100 years old and a recipient of the Burma Star.
What was your early life like?
I was born in Salford in May 1925, and left school at 14 to work in a timber yard. In 1941, at 16, I became an ARP warden, with a bicycle. I’d identify where a bomb had fallen, pedal like the clappers to HQ to tell them, and they’d send a squad to defuse it.
Ken Knowles served on the Indo-Burma border. Courtesy of Ken Knowles
You were called up in 1942?
Yes, billetted in Leicestershire, I slept on a stable floor on a straw mattress, with a bucket for a toilet, which I emptied each morning. I failed my medical to be a fighting soldier because I had a crooked arm. I couldn’t throw a grenade or lift a rifle. Then they saw I was an organiser who could sort things out. I spent 18 months on logistical training, learning about military vehicles and materials.
When you sailed for India in 1943, did you have any idea how far from home you were travelling?
I had never been further than Blackpool before I was called up. I’d heard of India, sort of, but never Burma [now Myanmar]. It took three weeks to sail there. Then there was a four-day drive in a cattle truck to reach Calcutta [now Kolkata]. We slept on the floor, and the only toilet was a hole in the floor. In Calcutta, I was in charge of unloading Jeeps coming off US ships, before I went to a logistical airbase on the Indo-Burma border.
During your three years there, what were your responsibilities?
We’d go into the jungle and retrieve battle armour left behind in the fighting — rifles, bullets, tin hats, uniforms, food. Back at camp, units would make it good enough to use again. I also packed pallets on Dakota planes flying out to drop supplies by parachute.
What do you remember of VE Day and VJ Day?
On VE Day, I got some tins of processed ham from stores and some eggs from local labourers. So we had ham and eggs for breakfast, and we fired two flares in the air. For dinner, there were tins of Canadian hash and we listened to Henry Hall’s band on the radio. As for VJ Day, that came on the radio and there was a lot of singing and dancing.
How will you mark VJ Day 80?
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I’ve been invited to Lancaster Castle where a beacon will be lit, and I’ll read the Kohima Epitaph — the inscription on the memorial of the 2nd British Division in the Kohima War Cemetery in India: “When you go home, tell them of us and say, ‘For your tomorrow, we gave our today.’” A lot of good souls gave their lives and we should remember them, not only on Remembrance Sunday but all the time.
Authors
Kate Battersby
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