Eddie Blackstone-Part 3 - The Royal Marine Years
Eddie and I discuss the weather in Austria and England, with new snow in Austria it prompted Eddie to tell me he had called his good friend Arleen in Colorado who is amongst other things, a member of the Voluntary Firebrigade and due to the heavy snowfall that Colorado had, helped put out a huge forest fire at Cameron Peak near Walden. Eddie recalled Arleen taking him to a Rodeo in nearby Walden, small dwelling with 550 inhabitants, 2 bars one on either side of the street and a subsequent fight between drinkers in middle of the street from each bar! Aged 16 years plus,Eddie had left his Grammer School and taken up a trainee's position at Hoover Limited in Bradford Yorkshire, the year was 1956. This meant a bus journey from Harrogate on a daily basis where he and his friend would sing throughout the whole journey on the back seat of the upper deck. In May/June of this same year, Eddie signed up for the armed forces requesting to be in the Navy as he liked the idea of being on ship's, something he would rue after discovering that he was very often seasick when on boats later in life. The recruiting Officer made it clear that there were no vacancies for the Navy,but there were for the Royal Marines, Eddie agreed after he was assured there would be an element of boat travel in the Marines. Whilst awaiting further contact from the Marines, Eddie was able to continue in his trainee job at Hoover Limited until the day arrived when a train ticket arrived in the Post, a journey from Harrogate to Lympstone near Exeter to the Commando training centre. Eddie's recalls the train arriving from North East England pulling into Harrogate train station where both his parents came to see him off, his father running a business in the town. There appeared to be a rowdy bunch of youths on this train, unbeknown to Eddie were a group of young men heading to their base at an RAF camp in the south. Eddie remembers giving his mum a hug,and giving his Dad a peck on the cheek in full view of the young and lively RAF group! The RAF group soon gave up giving Eddie stick when they discovered he was going to be a Commando! Eddie's train took a very long time to get to the south of England arriving at Bristol Parkway at 4 am whereupon Eddie had to wait a further 3-4 hours before the onward train arrived. From Lympstone train station Trucks brought the new recruits to the Commando training camp. The next day Eddie and others were shown the army assault course whereupon Eddie made it known that he was supposed to being placed on a ship, not so said the CO,not if youve been seconded to the Marines! To Eddie's surprise he eventually got fitter and mastered the tough expectation of the Commando traing course lasting 6 weeks in Lympstone,then a further 6 weeks in Bickley, several of his colleagues never made it through the Lympstone course,the Bickly course was tougher still but Eddie came through. Eddie was to see military action sooner than he had imagined, seconded to Cypress where the Commando's were to deal with terrorists causing problems in the otherwise British rule on the island. Arrival in Cyprus came via Malta and Gibralter, the fun during the 3 months of Commando training was all about to come to an end, in Cyprus Eddie's life was also on the line once arriving on New Years day in 1957. The area of Paphos, Nicosia and the Taurus Mountains was where the Commandos were to operate. Whilst there Eddie bought his first ever guitar for a bar of military soap and a tin of Beans! One evening Eddie was on guard duty and came into the barracks for a cup of tea and heard an engaging musical sound coming out of the radio, it was Lonny Donegan and band, Eddie realised that this is what his heart was telling him to do, the lure of music making and showbusiness had begun to have an effect. Eddie and pals were to play and entertain the soldiers during their stay. Eddie and skiffle band drove 16 miles to Nicosia in their 3
