‘I never left The Salvation Army’

Second World War veteran Lawrie South speaks to George Tanton about military service, faith and The Salvation Army.

Retired Band Leader Lawrie South (Worthing), now 100, was 18 in August 1944, when he was called up into Britain's airborne forces during the Second World War. From learning how to parachute out of a plane above the Lincolnshire countryside and tracking down Nazi sympathisers in Norway to performing with the Cairo Red Shield Band in Allied-liberated North Africa, The Salvation Army was a familiar friend throughout the war.

Lawrie grew up in the Movement. His parents had been officers. 'My mother retired from the service through ill health and then married my father, a bandmaster of a little corps in Yorkshire.' Lawrie's early life involved regular band practice in corps youth sections before the Second World War.

'I had no choice to be scared,' Lawrie recalls. 'National service was something you had to do. Everybody else did it, so I did it.'

They wanted replacements for the 1st Airborne Division, he continues. 'It was double pay and double food, so I applied. Within two days I started my paratrooper training at RAF Ringway. As I was interested in signalling, they sent me to a unit in Lincolnshire to study Morse code and continue my training. On my first jump in the Parachute Regiment, we jumped out of baskets attached to barrage balloons. If you refused to jump, you were dismissed straight away. On my second jump, we were flying in Dakota military planes. It was the first time I had ever been in an airplane.'

Soon after completing his training, Lawrie was preparing for Operation Apostle — an Allied mission to oversee the surrender of German troops in Norway. 'We were all pulled into a conference room in Grantham. In those days there was no wifi or telephone. Everything was kept secret.'

During the six months he was stationed in Norway, Lawrie linked up with The Salvation Army there. 'When we landed, we were asked to march into the local town,' he remembers. 'There were hundreds of people clapping us. As we marched to our billets, I noticed a Salvation Army crest on one of the buildings. At the first chance I had, I walked straight into the hall!'

After his return to the UK, Lawrie was transferred to the 6th Airborne Division for peacekeeping duties in Palestine. Stationed in Gaza, Lawrie fondly remembers his time in the Holy Land, seeing cultures and landscapes from the time of Jesus.

'I saw Bedouins with their sheep and their goats and their donkeys, holding their crooks as they walked along the tracks,' he says. 'I was very fortunate to be stationed in Bethlehem at Christmas in 1945. As a Christian, it was absolutely tremendous.'

Back in Cairo, Lawrie recollects how he saw a notice calling for musicians for the Airborne concert band. 'Being an instrumentalist, I applied. I was happy playing in the band because there were one or two other Salvationists in it.'

During his time in the city, Lawrie came across the Red Shield Services club, where he spent most of his free time. Here, Lawrie met other Salvationist military personnel with a passion for Army music. They decided to establish Cairo Red Shield Band.

'We had the privilege of being asked to play at the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem in Easter 1946,' he adds. 'The whole band travelled overnight in a lorry through the Sinai Desert, through Hebron, and into Jerusalem, where we stayed at the YMCA.'

During this time, Lawrie was seconded to the Red Shield Services, helping to coordinate and transport aid to prisoner-of-war camps. Looking back, Lawrie considers the captives he encountered: 'A lot of them didn't want to go home.'

Throughout his service, Lawrie's faith remained undeterred, as did his fondness for The Salvation Army. Despite being sent around the globe, he looked for The Salvation Army everywhere he went. He is adamant about one thing: 'I never left The Salvation Army.'