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Cpl. W/Mech Leslie Ernest Ramsay 1639215 RAFVR Les Ramsay was born in July 1918 in Kent. A metal worker in civilian life at the time of his enlistment in the RAFVR in August 1942, he had also served in the Territorial Army with the Royal West Kents.
Selected for training as an RDF Wireless Mechanic, he entered No 6 Signals School and No 6 Radio School at RAF Bolton, and by August 1943 he was qualified. Perhaps overseas posting was already imminent: however it was, in July 1943 Les took the plunge and married Margaret Mary, née Mullarkey. By August 1943 he was at 5 Personnel Despatch Centre, Padgate, embarking for India on 11 September 1943 to land in Bombay after a voyage of four weeks. In November 1943 AC2 Ramsay was posted to 211 Squadron, later transferring with the rest of the groundcrew at the establishment of its attached servicing unit, 7211 Servicing Echelon. During his service with the Squadron, Les Ramsay was reclassified to Leading Aircraftman in December 1944, and Acting Corporal in December 1945. Never idle, Les found time to buy the components and build his own radio, at a cost of 157 Rupees 8 Annas, and take an active part in the Suqadron entertainments After the disbanding of the Squadron in March 1946, brief service with 56 FRU (Field Repair Unit) followed back at Yelahanka. By August 1946 his number had come up: repatriated, he was awaiting demob at 101 Personnel Despatch Centre, Kirkham. Though reluctant to talk about his experiences in the Far East, Les would occasionally, out of the blue, dig out a photo of something from those days and relate some tantalising details of its origin. Les died in 1975. His son Ray recently came across the 211 website, prompting him to revisit his Dad’s box of treasures, carefully guarded by father and son these many years past. Photographs
A fabulous shot of a cheerful group in various states of “undress”, surrounding their Flight Lieutenant. Les Ramsay is 2nd from the left, hatless, in the back row. Possibly taken at Chiringa (see for example the Burma Quartet group MT Section Chiringa). It certainly has the same sort of happy atmosphere.
The aftermath of the hurricane on 14 May 1945. Les, centre, is the smallest and rearmost figure.
A day off for the lads in the local country.
India ancient and modern: bridge, bikes, tram, and oxcart.
A nice little service joke: the airmen’s cry to civvies: “get some in!” . Christmas 1945 at Don Muang. These hand-made “pubs” were a tradition for the ordinary airmen at Christmas—a little searching around the site will find others, from the Desert days onwards.
Monty Walters shot of this occasion is from alongside the aircraft.
His Royal Highness the young King of Siam and the Supreme Commander SEAC inspect the RAF Detachment, 19 January 1946, Bangkok. Possibly Les, 4th from the left in the front rank. The celebrations were accompanied by a mass flypast of 211 Squadron and other aircraft. The Victory celebrations were well recorded by Squadron members including Ron Kemp, Des Marsh-Collis, Monty Walters and Herbert Winnington, and in which Tom Taylor took part.
Les wasn’t much for captions, but this one is the same photo (with matching caption) as the print on Des Marsh-Collis’ page.
A larger image with fuller identification of the personnel is on the India and Burma page. Thanks to the Winnington album, it’s now quite clear that the group is of 211 Squadron and their 7211 Servicing Echelon ground crew. At Don Muang, they'd eventually extended the runway far enough for Mosquito operations. They at last moved in late Nov 1945, after the long wait back at Akyab in Burma on the Arakan coast of modern Myanmar. So the photo is at Don Muang in Thailand, sometime late in the period between Jan and March 1946. Don Muang (Ban Dong Muang), an airfield since 1914, is today the main international airport for Bangkok (otherwise Krung Thep), about 20km NNE of the centre of the city along the main highway. It lies on the floodplain next to the railway, klongs not far away. Sources
www.211squadron.org © D Clark & others 1998—2024 |
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