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>> FRED WALKER: Well, my name's Fred Walker and I joined the Commandos in 1942 -
No. 3 Commando, by the way - and my number is 5960542.
You never forget your Army number.
>> INTERVIEWER: And how old were you when you first joined up?
>> FRED WALKER: When I was 16.
>> INTERVIEWER: Now, 16 is underage, isn't it? So how did you manage that?
>> FRED WALKER: Well, we all told little fibs.
Everybody did. Or, mostly in London - we was getting bombed.
And probably to get away from the bombing as well.
No but seriously, when you see your own mates come home on leave, you wanted to join up.
There was a war on. Mr Hitler and co. Yeah.
I went into the Beds & Herts Regiment. And from there, there came a notice up, um,
those that want to join the Commandos, six and eight [6 shillings and 8 pence] a day extra.
And I went in front of a wonderful officer, he was a captain then,
and that was Captain Peter Young, who ended up a brigadier.
>> INTERVIEWER: What was the training process like to actually become a Commando?
>> FRED WALKER: Well, it was very hard. Very hard. Up in Achnacarry.
I forget how many weeks it was now. I'm guessing here. I think it was either four or six weeks.
I'm not 100 per cent sure on that - I'd be guessing.
But I tell you one thing - in Scotland it's always raining.
And we was always ringing wet, and under canvas as well. Yeah.
>> INTERVIEWER: So what sort of things did they train you to do?
>> FRED WALKER: Well, we used to do cliff climbing...er, route marches,
speed marches mainly, with all your gear on... and the Bren gun. And...
They didn't have the PIAT [Projector, Infantry, Anti Tank] then, thank the Lord, cos that weighed about 36lbs.
But we used to do a lot of marching. But we was fit then...or we thought we were.