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War and the forces

A WARTIME MEMORY OF BRIGHTON

A report in The Argus referred to an ex-sergeant of No 6 Commando who was seeking to contact a couple with whom he had lodged in Suffolk Street, Hove, prior to the Normandy landings of 1944.

This set me, now a resident of Brighton, thinking of my own experiences with the same unit in this same town about the same time.

I had joined No 6 (Army) Commando in Germany some months before the end of the War in Europe and as soon as it was over the whole of the 1st Special Service Brigade returned to the South Coast to train and prepare for the Japanese conflict.

No 6 Commando was sent to Brighton/Hove, No 3 to Worthing, brigade headquarters to Lewes and the Marines elsewhere.

All volunteers, we came from a variety of regiments to Commando. Interestingly, I had joined The Royal Sussex Regiment initially and wore their cap badge in my green beret.

We had no depot or barracks other than our basic training grounds in Scotland and Wales so we were given an allowance to rent private accommodation, which we called "civvy billets".

This was a unique privilege for service personnel in those days and I found a berth in Bolsover Road, Hove.

It was a strange existence, leaving one's house like a commuter in the mornings and taking a tommy gun on to the bus instead of a briefcase.

Our headquarters was in a requisitioned house in St Aubyns, from where we took transport to the Downs where we had a battle school.

We had a formal parade on Saturdays on the County Cricket Ground (sacrilege today) and danced at the Dome in the evenings with those ladies who were not otherwise drawn to Sherrys in West Street, where the (very) Free French Commandos frolicked.

The dropping of the great bombs on Japan meant that we did not have to battle there and tens of thousands of young men were given a life.

VJ Night found me halfway up the Clock Tower, my 18-year-old body aflame with an unaccustomed glass of shandy.

There was a final victory parade between the piers and then Army Commandos were disbanded and sent back to our parent units, leaving the Royal Marines to carry on the green beret tradition.

There remained much post-war soldiering for many of us in trouble spots from Java to Palestine - in my case with The Royal Sussex in Trieste.

A high proportion of us were commissioned or received other promotions and awards, and made careers in uniform, but the days in civvy billets in Brighton were the best ever.

by Denis Christian