On the 3 May 1939 Alan Wilson joined the Territorial Association - 320th Battery, 131st Field Regiment, RFA TA, 80th Lowland Division as a gunner aged 18. During November of that year he was posted to Cardiff. In this excerpt from his book 'No Hero, I!" he recalls how enemy 'ears' were everywhere.

"Careless Talk Costs Lives"

"This slogan could be seen everywhere at this time, and indeed, it was much needed. The enemy had agents and helpers at railway stations, in pubs, YMCAs and so on, all intent on picking up scraps of information about troop movements and dispositions. No item was too insignificant When put together a picture would emerge.

Under the guise of being 'kind to the troops', these dubious characters would befriend the lonely soldier awaiting his train and ply him with drinks, or a meal, or even a cup of tea, and proceed to extract cunningly from him details ... Unless the soldier was on guard, he was likely to give away snippets of information. I myself had experience of one of these confrontations, this time at the YMCA. As I waited at the counter for a cup of tea, I was aware of a man standing beside me, eyeing me up and down in a furtive manner.

Quote from letter to Dad 04/04/40

'He was a little man, foreign appearance, dark and sallow faced, with yellow whites to his eyes ...

I watched him from the corner of my eye, and thought, funnily enough - That's the type of little squirt that Hitler would employ as a spy...

My suspicions were aroused when he came over and sat beside me.

I paid no attention to him. I was reading a newspaper all the time. Presently, in queerly accented English, he offered me some gaspers (cigarettes). I refused them politely enough. Soon he asked me where I came from, to which I replied 'A long way from here'. Then he said did I like cake or chocolate and wanted to buy me some. I told him I'd already eaten too much that night. That stumped him a bit, then he asked me where I was staying, if I was leaving town that night, why I was here, was I a gunner, and lots more in a fairly tactful way.

I didn't give him one straight anwer ...

I said 'Goodnight' and went out, but soon was aware that this fellow was following me. I went to the railway station , where there was some light, and suddenly spun around. My 'shadower' popped behind a pillar like a rabbit going down his hole. I walked through some barriers, and then out of a different door, determined to shake him off. However, he picked me up by the sound of my boots, and followed me back to the YMCA. I told a Bombardier about him and the Bombardier alerted a policeman, who said he would watch the man.'

Alan Wilson - 'No Hero, I!'