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This photo was taken in kirkwall grammar school playground
around 1940-41,The picture of the parade in year 1940 pictures would have been about the same time.J.W
View Large VersionPicture added on 17 July 2008
Thats my dad. What a handsome fella he was, no wonder my mum married him.
Added by Sylvia Walker on 30 July 2010
If you had to be seventeen before you could join the ATC before going onto war service then this photo is 1942. My uncle David Eunson was 17 in April 1942 and left that summer for Edinburgh University as he was still too young for active service. He was called up in 1943 and served until 1947. He died in 1999 having taught in Lanark, Falkirk, Stromness, Huntly and Kilsyth.
Added by David Partner on 21 February 2013
my Dad was born in 1926, so he would have been 16 in 1042. He lied about his age to get into the RAF, served in India, Burma Hong Kong and Singapore.
Added by [email protected] on 22 February 2013
Not sure how to interpret your opening sentence David; think I must've got the wrong end of the stick. Surely you could join the ATC before age 17 and go on to war service when old enough? What would be the point of delaying a boy's entry to the ATC until he was almost due for call-up anyway?
Certainly, your uncle's sojourn in the ATC must have been brief if he reached joining age and entered university within the same year. I take it he returned to university after demob?
(I have to say, however, that all the lads in the photo look as if they could be at least 17.)
Certainly, your uncle's sojourn in the ATC must have been brief if he reached joining age and entered university within the same year. I take it he returned to university after demob?
(I have to say, however, that all the lads in the photo look as if they could be at least 17.)
Added by Ian Hourston on 23 February 2013
Ian
I don't know about the age 17 question for the ATC, my Dad's 17th birthday would have been in early April 1942, so he would have had a few months before going down to Edinburgh for the start of his 1st year, I always understood he volunteered for training in RAF Intelligence on the basis of a university notice looking for language students not sure if this links with ATC or not. I assume they let him finish his 1st year course. He ended up in Australia working on the Japanese codes, and completed his degree after demob.
I don't know about the age 17 question for the ATC, my Dad's 17th birthday would have been in early April 1942, so he would have had a few months before going down to Edinburgh for the start of his 1st year, I always understood he volunteered for training in RAF Intelligence on the basis of a university notice looking for language students not sure if this links with ATC or not. I assume they let him finish his 1st year course. He ended up in Australia working on the Japanese codes, and completed his degree after demob.
Added by Jim Eunson on 26 February 2013
Thanks for the info Jim. Working on Japanese codes must have been quite something. To me, Japanese is a code to start with.
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Added by Ian Hourston on 04 March 2013
Kirkwall
