I KNEW HOW TO BE 'LOST IN TRANSIT’
As Remembered By Alistair Kirk, RE 1 WT 1953-55
Can any other members remember the Troop transit Centre in Goodge Street? This was originally the base for the Top Brass of the American Forces in the UK prior to the D Day Landings. Well I ended up there twice, and soon began to learn how to miss my flight back to Egypt.
The trick was to volunteer for Baggage Handling i.e. carrying Officers baggage up to street level, and then endeavouring to get them a taxi. This procedure ensured that we were well out of earshot of any tannoy announcements regarding our flights. This way three of us managed to extend our stay for another six weeks until somebody got wise.
Then we were paraded before a Sergeant who said that “if we did not turn
up on time in future, he would not send us back at all”. How we kept our
faces straight is still a mystery, so we just kept on baggage handling. That
was the final straw, as a couple of days later we were rounded up, put on a
truck to the airport with an escort to ensure we got there, and put aboard the
next flight to Fayid. When I finally got back to our unit the Operations Officer
demanded to know where I had been. So after I told him I had “Got lost
in Transit” he threw me out of his office, commenting that I was some
sort of an idiot.