Reproduced, with kind permission, from the personal accounts of George Painter, Royal Signals att 8th Hussars.

Part One. Joining the 8th Hussars at Leicester.

Often think of when I joined the 8th.Kings Royal Irish Hussars at Leicester in 1949. I was Royal Signals and if anything sticks in my minds it is the few months I spent at the old U.S, Air Base , on the outskirts of Leicester now being used to bring the regiment up to strength before returning it to active duty with extensive training , firstly on Comets and then the super Centurion!

However, this is mainly about Leicester! The camp was pretty isolated and was a fair distance from the main road leading to the City Centre.

The village close by to the camp was Great Glen, in fact I still remember the telephone number as Great Glen 312, that is with a couple of chaps I was given the task of manning the small telephone exchange which was situated close to the runway and another building which housed the Orderly Room! As attached personnel I was with HQ Squadron , and remember the Sergeant Major being a Mr.Beavers and the O.C the then Maj Guy Lowther, Bart!

As I said the Camp was a fair distance from the main road but a route had been devised across country via a number of fields with grazing cattle ,very muddy and a lot of cow pooh! So we wore our gym shoes across the fields carrying our shoes, hiding our gym shoes in the bushes , and then changing to our shoes to walk the couple of miles or so to the city centre. Immediately emerging from the fields was the district of Oadby a popular pub which many of the lads did not go any further from! Can’t remember the Pub’s name!

So it was a great few months in Leicester with plenty of entertainment a “Palais de Dance” Roller Skating Rink, Speedway Track, Theatres,etc., it was great fun and many a Hussar met and married a Leicester girl!

However, it was not to last and we were eventually moved to Tidworth on Salisbury Plain where we firstly trained on Comets and then the Centurions ,yes me as well as a Royal Signals Wireless Operator I had to be trained as tank crew, my job rear link communications to Brigade. It all became a bit of a shock to me including the live firing at Lulworth, When I joined the Royal Signals I was expecting to be posted to a Signals Office in Gibraltar or Malta or the like!

Well what happened next was the KOREAN WAR and it was not long before embarking on the troopship EMPIRE FOWEY from Southampton! But ,of course, that is another story which I could continue another time if there is any interest in an old soldiers tales! I incredibly celebrated my 90th birthday this year, and do you know what I still consider myself an 8th Hussar!

Related topics

  1. A short history of The 8th Hussars
  2. Korea 1950-51
  3. Article: Part One – Joining the 8th Hussars at Leicester.
  4. Article: Part Two – The trip on H.M.T.S. Empire Fowey to Korea.
  5. Article: Part Three – The week long tank train trip to Pyongyang.
  6. Article: Part Four – The Withdrawal from North Korea.
  7. Article: Part Five – Life on the 38th Parallel and the return to the UK.
  8. Article: The Korean War: Slaughter at Happy Valley.