2nd & 3rd February, 1948 - Ron's hearing rumours of British involvement in the terror and struggling with the water supply.

Monday, 2^nd February, 1948

Yesterday the Arabs were very busy throughout the day in various attacks on the Jews in Jerusalem.  Their most important achievement came to pass at 11p.m. last evening when they succeeded in blowing up the offices & printing presses of the Palestine Post the only Jewish paper printed in English and the mainstay in Jewish propaganda.  It is rumoured that this deed might have been done by British Police but as yet it is too early for any facts to be known.

The offices of the Palestine Post newspaper targeted
by Arab insurgents.  Rumours abound regarding the
involvement of  British personnel who had deserted
from the Force.

Continuing today some Jewish shops have been blown up, the Jews replying with automatic gun fire from snipers.  I saw two school boys brought into the Government Hospital today.  They had been shot by the Jews, one in the hand and one in the foot.  This happened near Jaffa Gate where Arab security police had earlier in the day stopped a Jewish car which was found to contain mines.  The female occupant was detained.

Tuesday, 3^rd February, 1948

Jerusalem YMCA Swimming Pool in the 1940's
source: Library of Congress, Matson Collection

From the hot weather we had become used to we now have to endure bitter cold and drizzly rain.  At 6am in the morning and late in the evenings the cold is intense.  The room where we sleep has a perpetual damp atmosphere and the bed is icy cold when first made up.  The rain as yet has not been heavy only scattered showers which damp everything and are not enough to increase the water supplies of the city.  This means

our water in the camp supplies are turned off for several hours a day so that the latrines become in a very insanitary condition in a day.  Shaving and other necessities of toilet become difficult.  We have had to go to the Y.M.C.A. in the town for hot showers at a shilling a time.  These are very refreshing and very necessary.

25th & 26th January, 1948 - The Socony Co benefits from Ron's watchfulness and he gets to know his Army comrades

Sunday, 25^th January, 1948

The beginning of another week and a new series of “Static Guards” of “Stags” as the army call them.  This week I am guarding the filling station of the American “Socony Vacuum Co.[1]”  Alternating, one day I do from 7am to 2pm the next from 2pm to 10pm.  This post is in the zone in which our billet is situated and as it is so near we are walked to and from duty accompanied by a sergeant.  Why I do not know.

There is a certain cult existing among the sergeants who try to make all our live as regimental as possible.  Fortunately they do not succeed as they are balanced out by other more sensible men.  We are paraded by the former type, a quarter of an hour before proceeding on duty.  The roll is called.  Certain men are detailed to draw Thompson Machine Guns for which no less than three books now have to be signed.  After this we are “fallen out onto the truck or duty sergeants”

Monday, 26^th January, 1948
I made the most of my morning off this morning, the first for a week, to lie in bed until eight o’clock.  After breakfast I had a few games of table tennis – a very popular game here – then I dressed and took a walk to the Y.M.C.A. where my friend (a friend indeed) stood me a cup of tea and two of the fancy cakes to be had at the counter there.

It was quite warm when we went on duty at 2 p.m. and chatting with the army guards – a more intelligent lot than was our lot last week – the two hours passed very quickly.  At four we were relieved so that we could get our dinner.  We returned to our posts at 6pm.  It was a full moon this evening and there was a great deal of traffic on the road.  I am actually guarding the Socony Vacuum Petrol Co.  while my friend is guarding the Shell Petrol Co. between us is a French Co,  we were invited into the tent where the army guards sleep while off duty and we were given a cup of tea & made as much at home as could be.  Their only advantage over us lay in the fact that they possess an oil stove.



[1] The SOCONY Vacuum Oil Co (Standard Oil Company of New York) was later to become Mobil now a subsidiary of Exxon

17th & 18th January, 1948 - A trip to the "Y" and Ron gets to grips with his smalls.

Saturday, 17^th January, 1948

This morning I went to the “Y.M.C.A.” in the heart of the city.  The building is a marvellous construction with a tower in the centre and domed wings on the main building.  I have been told that it was built by an American millionaire and is the largest Y.M.C.A. building in the world.

I visited the library there and found it to be an excellent collection of books.  Also there is a swimming bath and a gymnasium but I did not see these.

Also today I learn that we in this camp or billet are to be known as “The 1^st Guards Company.”

Such stupidity on the part of the powers that be must only go to show that the days of the British as Police in this country are surely finished.

 

Sunday, 18^th January, 1948

Sunday is never treated as a religious day of rest through the general mass of the force here, but it is noticeable that a Sunday morning is very different to any other morning in the week.  There is a general atmosphere of quiet and calm about a room or street which is not present on a weekday.

For myself today I was very energetic in that I did some washing.  I started by washing some handkerchiefs and a pair of socks and later ventured upon a vest and a towel.  I was very pleased with the results of this labour and as the local laundry is exorbitantly dear I shall continue my washing in fine weather, of small articles anyway.

A Detail was published this afternoon of the duties we shall all be on during the coming week.  I am with two others on guard at the Public Works Department’s Workshops.