J S Scott School House ‘Odds’ 1928 – 1931
One’s period of conscious thought does I think begin with the General Strike (before Aldenham) and the impression of helpfulness around ‘transport’ for one thing. My School life was made happy mainly because of the ‘sport’ of shooting BSA air guns at ‘Prep School and then .22 on the range by the 5’s courts if I remember rightly and then the OTC – rifle and 303 ammo. This involved trips out to Panshangar Range using 303 at 200 & 500 yards and then camp etc at Tidworth Pennings, Hants.
Having in 1931 obtained all the qualifications for a 5-year course in Architecture at Birmingham and London I rather sadly missed out on Sixth Form life at Aldenham. Through the family I had by this time come in contact with a German girl – a Prussian - Wilhelmina von Platen over in England for 12 months to learn ‘English’. We kept in touch after she went back to Germany, when we met up again in 1936 in Berlin, I was on a tour to celebrate my ‘finals’, and while in Paris decided to go to Berlin to see her. One morning when waiting to see her for lunch in the Unter den Linden, I suddenly noticed everyone ‘stiffening up’ and looking down the street. I saw to my surprise and dismay (?) ranks of 12 ‘Brown Shirts’ coming towards us – saluting etc etc. I was not going to join in and went quietly into a shop with the awful thought that given each of them a rifle we should all be in for a major trouble. By the time I departed, it was obvious how she had come to hate the Jews!
Looking back one’s life and work were clouded by the ever increasing German threat of war, and so it was on August 24th I was mobilized in the TA: 3 years in the AA dforces - 3 years on attachment to the Indian Army – 6 months until January 1946 Commandant of German POW Camp in Staffs. Whilst immensely grateful for having survived, those of us of this period realised that we had (forever) lost our ‘salad’ days, proud but sad!