No News from Stan

 The last we heard from Stan was on 6 September, when he was on a ship going back to North Africa.  What is happening to Stan and why are there no letters from him?

Stan's record of his war service notes that from 5 - 19 September he "Attended No. 2 MEOCS - Found not suitable".  This was an officer selection process which, as we have seen, involved him travelling to North Africa - away from the active front - taking part in the selection process and then travelling back.  During this time there are no letters from Stan, so presumably they were not allowed to write.

Stan was not promoted to be an officer.  He always liked to tell an amusing story and said of this experience that as part of the process he had to see a psychiatrist, who went through a word association test with him.  Stan said that he knew that he had failed when the psychiatrist said "Fish" and Stan's immediate answer was "Chips"!

At this time the Army was still highly class conscious and someone who came from a South Yorkshire mining village was clearly not "the right sort of chap" to become a British Army Officer!

You will hear from Stan again on 20 September when he gets back to Sicily.

#royalsignalsWWII   #royalsignalsworldwar2   #soldierWWII  #sicily1943  

#NorthAfricaWWII  #NorthAfricaworldwar2  


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