Tauranga Memories :Remembering War

Topic: Peter Curnow - Royal Air Force Station Laarbruch

Topic type:
Topic
» Person

Peter grew up largely eating what he could trap, fish or grow in a house with no power and no running water. His father, he says was the first Cornishman to leave the village to enlist for World War 1, and the last to return home. Peter himself was too young for the Second World War but was called up for service straight afterward and became part of the post-war rebuilding of Germany, serving in the RAF station in Laarbruch, on the border between Holland and Germany. Harley interviewed him in August of 2012.

You can read the transcript of this interview below, and you can hear the interview by clicking here.

Look through the photographs on the righthand side (related items) as well.

Topics Covered :

First 5 minutes
Growing up.
What his his Father was like after the First World War.
His uncle who died in a mine accident.
His brothers, all seaman.
7 minutes:
Being called up to National Service, sent to Holland and Germany.
Shooting rabbits off NATO gardens as a supplt assitant, getting promoted to a Dispatch Rider.
10 minutes 30 seconds
Begins time in Laarbruch
Recovering crashed aircraft to prevent the Russians getting them.
14 minutes
Transferred to 317 Squadron (NATO transport station) picking up new German Trucks for delivery to Holland, Belgium and Germany.
16 minutes
Fear of being trapped in a uninteresting job, leaves the service

TRANSCRIPT (Kindly provided by Kim Megson)

Interviewer: Harley Couper (HC)
Interviewee: Pete Curnow (PC)
Date Recorded: 27 August 2012
Duration: 42min 18sec
Date Typed: 31 August 2012

PC: Oh, yes, so Pete Curnow, 21^st of the 1^st ’36 I was born, 1936, not 1836.

HC: Ha!

PC: And I was born in Cornwall, a place called Prussia Cove near Penzance. Our nearest neighbour was about three miles away and we had no power and no telephone, but we managed to get by.

(Pictured left is a photo of the house Peter grew up in. It was taken later when power was added, hence the power line in the background).

HC: Did you have running water?

PC: No, we had to fetch the water every night with two buckets from a spring; beautiful water. And my father was in the First World War. He was the first Cornishman to sign up. Everyone had to report to ... in Falmouth, to sign on, and he went down there. And when he came home his mother said to him ... oh, that was my grandmother – she said, you know, “What happened to you today, Jim? What’s happened with you?” He said, “I’ve signed up”, and he went away ... he was the first one to go away, and he was the last one to come back. He went right down through France and Belgium and right down to Salonika.

HC: This is the Great War?

PC: Yeah, the First World War. And I had an uncle in the Second World War. He was ... he went right across Libya and all that, you know, with the Eighth Army, yeah. And I had an uncle that ... of course, Cornwall is a lot of tin mining, tin and copper, and I could have gone in the mines but I thought, well, I’ll be underground long enough, ‘cos my father and my grandfather, he went ... my grandfather actually went to America to work in the mines, then came back to Cornwall. And my father, before he signed up, went ... he worked in the mines and ... us all there. If we ever went out for a walk on a Sunday, the first thing he did when he ... picking up a bit of rock to have a look and ... to see what’s inside.

HC: To see what was in it, yeah.

PC: But, you know, that was ... we never starved, we lived on rabbits – rabbits and swedes and fish. Fishing’s pretty popular down in Cornwall.

HC: So that’s mostly meat you caught...

PC: Yeah, rabbits.

HC: ...rather than reared?

PC: Yeah, the rabbits are good cooked properly (?). I’ve had them here but ... they did in the forestry here and they’ve got a very strong taste.

HC: Yeah, a bit gamey.

PC: Yeah, that’s it.

HC: So ... plus a few shotgun pellets through it...

PC: Yeah, that’s right. Yeah, I bought my first motorbike selling rabbits. I used to cycle about three k away or three miles away with the rabbits all on the handlebars and along the frame, and we used to get half a crown a rabbit.

HC: Who did you sell them to?

PC: Oh, there used to be a guy that used to deal in them. He had a motorbike and sidecar and he used to go around all over the place.

HC: He was interested in the meat or the pelt?

PC: Yeah, he used to sell the meat, yeah. And I had a dog given to me, and my father didn’t believe in dogs, like as far as rabbiting, because he thought they would bruise them, so we used to go out at night with a lamp, a spot-lamp, across the paddocks, dazzle the rabbit. Of course the rabbit would take off and the dog would see them. He was a good dog and he used to bring the rabbit right back to us.

HC: Oh, ok, spotted it.

PC: And when my father ... you know, like gutted the rabbits and that ... we used to take them home and he used to do all that, at night, and he couldn’t believe that there was no munch marks and, you know, it was a soft-mouthed dog.

HC: it was a retriever, was it?

PC: Yeah, yeah.

HC: So you grew up on a good diet of apples and rabbits.

PC: Well, we did really, you know, ‘cos we ... there’s a lot of cauliflowers they grow in Cornwall, and potatoes and that, because they used to beat the French into the markets in Auckland ... ah, in London. And, yeah, we lived on ... and father worked on the farm. And, you know, we never ever went short of anything. We had a big garden. He was always in the garden, you know.

HC: So, how old were you when he was at war?

PC: I ... I ... he was at war before I was born.

HC: Before you were born.

PC: Yeah, he was in the First World War.

HC: Ok, yeah.

PC: Yeah.

HC: And what was he like?

PC: He was good, you know, he never ever spoke about the war. I’ve found out more since I’ve been here.

HC: You asked him?

PC: No, I never ... I never really. I knew he was in the war but he never ever spoke, but it was a different life then. A lot of those people never ever would ... ah, spoke about what they did.

HC: Was there kind of a ... sort of a protocol that said you shouldn’t ask people about the war?

PC: Well ... yeah. I don’t ... no, I don’t think there really was, but ... oh, well, like it was in ourselves, you know. We didn’t go asking too many questions ... you might ... but ...

HC: Why were you hesitant to ask about the war?

PC: I don’t really know. I’ve heard him say that they went down to Salonika and all that and they had the gas and the mules and all that, and they were ... I know that he wasn’t very happy. My mother once put on corned beef for tea and he saw the corned beef and he wouldn’t eat it because they lived on that for four years in the First ... in that First World War. Smokes and corned beef they lived on, and lived in the trenches, but he survived, he came back. And, as I say ... and I had an uncle, my mother’s brother, he died in a mine back in Cornwall. I’m not sure whether they ever got his remains out of that mine or not. We never even asked about that. I never ever met him but my mother showed me the mine that he lost his life in, you know, and I didn’t like to ask too many questions. Like, you sort of don’t when you’re a close-knit family, you know. So that’s it, Harley.

HC: Did you have siblings; brothers and sisters?

PC: Yeah, I’ve got three brothers, yeah. They’re all ... we’ve all been at sea, and my eldest brother, Ray, he used to live here at Foxton. He was on the airlift over into Berlin, from Varnsdorf, the aircraft ... the Air Force in, ah ... in Germany, and he was over there for three years in the RAF regiment. And then he went back to sea ... went to sea, and ended up down here and married a girl from the South Island. He had four kids.

HC: So you were obviously too young to have been a soldier in the war.

PC: Oh, yeah, I was in the Cold War after the war.

HC: Oh yeah.

PC: You know, when Russia and Germany ... we were in Germany. I was called up ... but getting back to that, I was called up after all the mucking around, you know, going motorbike racing and all that. They said to me, “You’ve got a week to get a medical and report to a place in London.” Well, London’s seven hours away. You know, we hadn’t been used to travelling. So, anyway, I travelled on the train.

HC: What year was this?

PC: Ah, that would have been in 1955.

HC: So you were ... would have been just 20-something?

PC: Yeah, wait a minute ... no, ’36 ... ’36, ’46 ... yeah, about 19, wasn’t I, yeah.

HC: And so you were called up.

PC: Yeah.

HC: They still could call you up, even though that was post war?

PC: Yeah, oh yeah. It was national service.

HC: National, right.

PC: Yeah, we did two ... I think it was a year or two, but they only did ... they didn’t do so long, but we ... I was two years. So I put in for overseas. I thought, oh well, I mean, I’ve gotta go. So I put in for overseas and they sent me to Holland, and I remember going to this big camp – it was a stores camp. I don’t know, I think I was an embarrassment to them because most of the people learnt trades, like in the shipyards and all that and ... I mean, I was really ... I’d been at sea for four years but I think that was nothing.

HC: Even at 19 you’d had four years at sea?

PC: Yeah, yeah, I went to sea when I was 16 – 15½/16. And when I went to ... when I was there they set me up with a Land Rover to go round the perimeter fence of this place, you know, like with a rifle, you know, because it was a show of NATO, you know? And I remember the commander of the Air Force that I was ... I was at Nijmegen, Eindhoven – and he says to me, “If you see any rabbits or any hares, shoot them!” He said, “They’ve been eating my lettuce.” And I thought Jesus, I’ve come all the way in this ...

HC: To shoot rabbits.

PC: ... for this, you know. So, anyway, one day it was that cold ... it might have been a couple of weeks later, I went to ... I called in at the depot with the trucks and I saw this Triumph motorbike. So I went over and had a look at it, you know, and the fellow, an officer came over and said, “You interested in motorbikes?” And I said, “Yeah, I am, as a matter of fact.” So he said, “What do you ... what’s your trade?” I said, “Well, I’m only a supply assistant.” I said, “I think I’m a bit of an embarrassment to them, you know.” So he said, “All right”, he said, “Well, give me a couple of days”, he said, “I might be able to get you a job as a dispatch rider, would you be happy with that?” I said, “Yeah.” He was from Bristol too, in the UK. I’ll never forget him. I said, “Yep.” A couple of days later he came along and he said, “You’re going to Laarbruch in Germany as a despatch rider.” So I was happy as. So then I was ... I was only there a couple of days, they had all my gear, you know, and protective gear, gloves, you know, like for waving the traffic, and I was running down to Antwerp in Belgium, escorting all the trucks, big ... Queen Marys they call them, big trucks, with Canberra ... crashed Canberra aircraft on the back, to keep them away from the Russians, and they go back to the UK to be analysed, I suppose, you know.

HC: So they are ... these are planes that have been damaged and ...

PC: Oh, quite a ... there was a lot of them really. Well, a few of them.

HC: Just wrecks really, were they?

PC: Yeah, you know, like there was a lot of deaths too, ‘cos it was 24 hour a day flying station at night. There was Canberras flying all night, bombers, and in the daytime they had Star- ... ah, American Starfighters, Starfighters. They were fighters for flying in the daytime and the Canberras at night.

HC: So all of these needed to be hauled off away from the Russians?

PC: Yeah, but ... well, everything was kept away from the Russian ... you know, the ... the ... we weren’t even supposed to have a camera, you know, like unless you had permission to take a photograph or anything. So we used to take them down there and they used to offload them. We’d stay the night in a big castle in Antwerp and then come back the next day. And it might be another couple of months, three or four months before we had another one. It’s not as if they’re every day, but it was a big job recovering them too, ‘cos they’re in the bloody middle of nowhere.

HC: Right, yeah.

PC: You know. It’s sad, but it did happen. And, also, we were recovering trucks on the autobahn over there. There was a lot of accidents, you know, especially with Combi, Volkswagen Combis. They were taken off ... they were going too fast, and it was not only the Forces, but the German people as well. And the motor used to be at the back, you see, the air-condition- ... air cool motor at the back. And they used to take off.

HC: Oh, really?

PC: And, yeah, fatal accidents, ‘cos nothing in the front of the ... so ...

HC: This was the early days of autobahns?

PC: Yeah, that’s right, yeah. There’s the autobahn up there, up the top there. There’s me with the motorbike there (pictured).

HC: Oh, ok.

PC: Yeah. So that’s the sort of life it was there. Oh, and then I ... I forget how ... I think I did six or eight months there, and then they ...

HC: These pictures on the wall, is that ... are they at that moment, that time?

PC: Yeah, yeah, that’s the air- ... the crews I was with, and ‘cos ... my kids did this because they said, “What did you do, dad?” you know, “... like, in your life?” They stuck them all together. But all these are in the RAF, and that’s that ship that was in the paper.

HC: Yep, yep.

PC: That’s my brother up there, another one ... brothers, my eldest brother. That’s that fellow from the north of Scotland storing away up there. There’s us doing the decks, and a few up there. But it was a good life, you know. It was a good life at sea. There was never a dull moment. You know, you ... some of the guys you’d hardly see them. They’re on different watches, you know, and then there’s a day watch. You see them more than anybody else, but all that ...

HC: So this ... so you went to sea after ...

PC: I went back ... oh ...

HC: While you were in ...

PC: I went back after I finished with the Air Force.

HC: Ok.

PC: But then I ...

HC: So that was for two years, was it?

PC: Yeah, I’m getting back to another story now. But this was when I was in the Air Force. They transferred me in ... to 317 Squadron. It was the biggest transport squadron in NATO, in Germany, and we were on the biggest flying station at the time. So I had to go to pick up old trucks and that from the air bases, because they were becoming obsolete and Germany had to pay a war bond. They had to supply all new Mercedes trucks. There they are there, and I used to deliver them all around Germany, Holland and Belgium, and take an old truck up to a place called Hamm in Germany. They used to have hand throttles on them for the autobahns, you know.

HC: What’s a anthrottle?

PC: Like, just a hand throttle. Instead of using your foot ...

HC: Oh, yeah, yeah.

PC: ... pull the hand throttle down, let her go in the paddock. The guy said, “Roll the spare wheel off”. The paddock as far as you can see. The bloody thing used to just keep going until it stops, you know. What a waste really. They were all well maintained but they’ve been obsolete ... finished. So I delivered all the ... all those. And then they sent me to 317 Squadron. That’s that one up ... like, up with that truck and trailer up there.

HC: Oh, ok.

PC: And, whoa, we had cranes and everything, and I drove the trucks and cranes there then until I was demobbed, you know. When the two years were up, they wanted me to stay on.

HC: You weren’t tempted?

PC: Nah, I wasn’t really ... you know, I didn’t want to ... I think that, there in the war, like, with everybody ... like, all the guys around Cornwall were sort of caught. You know, if you were on a farm, you worked there ‘til the end of your days. Or if you went to a mine, you were in the mine, you know. And I wanted to ... I wanted to see the outside of the world, you know. So an officer did come along. He was from Devon. He came along and he says to me ... oh, he said, “How would you like to join the Regular Force?”, because most of those people were Regular. I was lucky that I applied to go to Germany because I was only a National Serviceman.

HC: Right.

PC: And nobody ever questioned me about it before, but he says to me, he said, “Oh, you can be in the Regular Force if you can get this and get that.” So I said, “No, no, I’ve made up my mind, I’m going back to Cornwall.” And he says, “Well, you’ll have to buy a new uniform.” And I bought a ... I had to buy a bloody new uniform for a week.

HC: Hah!

PC: That’s how bad he was.

HC: Was he trying to bend your arm, was he?

PC: Yeah, I knew ... I ... they gave me the uniform but, I mean, that’s what he said, you know, ‘cos being on a truck all day, the uniform gets shiny. It’s not right up to parade thing, you know, but I never forget that guy’s face. He said, “No, you’ll have to get a new bloody uniform.” So, anyway, that was it, and then I went back ... I went back to Cornwall and I went on ... actually a guy that came round the other night, he’d been to Cornwall. He says, “I saw the ship there, the Scillonian”, and I said, “I was on the Scillonian”. The Scillonian II used to run across to the Scilly Isles off Penzance, daily. Oh, in the winter it used to stay the night in the Scillies, St Mary’s, and we used to bring back daffodils, ‘cos they used to grow daffodils over there, and they all used to go to the markets around London and Birmingham and whatnot. And at the end ... oh, she paid herself off. It was owned by the Scillonian people, and they paid her off ... I think it was a quarter of a million dollars, which is nothing now, and they took us to Jersey.

(the full interview can be accessed here).