Back home - but unexpectedly - Tony Cunnane's Life and Times

We didn’t normally hang around to say farewell to those leaving for home because such goodbyes tended to emphasise how long it was to your own tour-ex  date. Although I’d enjoyed my time at Gango and in Ceylon, there is no doubt that I was home sick for England and family and I was keen to have another go at furthering my RAF career.

The four-day flight back to UK was uneventful and followed the reverse route to the outbound journey. I got some satisfaction at Habbaniya when I saw in the distance the irate Irish sergeant we had met on the way east. He was still serving at that awful place and yet I was on my way home! That quite made my day!

Our Hastings landed at Lyneham at 2.30pm on 15 February 1956. I had a window seat this time and it was so nice to see green fields and small villages glide past as we made our final approach for landing. Along with other airmen returning at the end of their overseas tours we had to go next to 5PDU at RAF Innsworth for the inevitable documentation but before setting off we had time to visit the Lyneham NAAFI. There I met Philip Holt, a lad who had been in my form at Salford Grammar School. We had only a few minutes to  compare notes and then I had to board the coach for Innsworth.

It was late when we arrived at Innsworth and so we had to stay the night in the transit block. The following morning all the necessary documentation was completed in record time. I was told by an officer that I would receive a letter at home in the next few days giving me instructions where and when to go next.

By mid-morning I was ready to set off on 14 days disembarkation leave. First, I sent a telegram to my parents from Gloucester railway station because I’d had no opportunity before leaving Ceylon to tell them that I would be coming home early. I remember the exact wording of that telegram: ‘SURPRISE ARRIVING LEEDS ON DEVONIAN TODAY PLEASE MEET TONY’. The man in the Telegraph Office said I had enough words to spare to include the time of arrival but I told him there was no need because our family was familiar with the exact times of the Devonian express which connected Leeds with Bristol and the far west. Instead I added an extra SURPRISE to the text.

The telegram arrived at home with barely time for Mum and Dad to get on the West Riding red bus from Wakefield to Leeds to meet me. They were in a bit of a state because they had no idea why I was home 15 months before I was due. They had been thinking all manner of dreadful things. Had I caught some awful tropical disease, perhaps? Had I done something terrible and was going to be court-martialled? In fact, instead of walking straightaway to the bus terminus next to Leeds Corn Exchange we went into the station buffet where, over a cup of tea, I was able to put their minds to rest.