大象传媒

The car was a Ford Mercury and the three hour drive was on a good road with very little traffic. On arriving in Bombay, we checked into the Taj Mahal hotel where we both had rooms. The next morning I drove him to the place where he was to meet all the naval officers and the generals, and after that I had the day to myself. The meeting place was near a beach called where there was a natural swimming pool called Candya set in the rocks. The weather was very hot and humid, and a chap I had made friends with suggested we went for a swim. We did, and it was most enjoyable.

The brigadier was attending meetings most of the week so that left me with very little to do. James and I would walk around Bombay, which was quite a big place. On one occasion we met an English couple who invited us to have dinner with them, in their beautiful apartment overlooking the sea. We had a beautiful meal for which we thanked them very much but I never saw them again as we were due to leave Bombay the next day. I picked up the brigadier and we set off on the drive back to camp. The road was almost empty this time. We had only travelled about 20 miles when I tried to slow the vehicle down but nothing happened. We had no brakes! I turned to the brigadier to tell him of the situation and he told me that if I stopped the car somehow, he would have a try at driving. Whether he believed me about the brakes or not, I don鈥檛 know, but I managed to stop the car after a while by changing down gears and keeping it almost on the grass verge. We changed seats and the brigadier had a try. He discovered that I was right about the brakes, but he did manage to stop the car in the same way that I had. I took over the driving again and it was very fortunate that there was little traffic on the road.

We continued on back to the camp, and about 10 miles further on we had to board a ferry to cross a river. To get to the ferry meant driving down quite a slope to the river bank. There were lots of people standing about waiting to board the ferry and though my Urdu was not perfect, I managed to explain our problem to them. I asked the brigadier if he wanted to drive the car onto the ferry but he said that if I drove, he would help to hold it back. Everybody was willing to help, so we managed to get it aboard. On the other side of the river we again received help, and once the brigadier had got in, we set off for the camp. We still had to travel very slowly so it took us much longer that it should have. At the camp the mechanics found that the master cylinder had gone, and I wonder even now if the car had been tampered with, but no-one will ever know if it was sabotage or not. A few days later the brigadier told me he was returning to England for a week or two on a thing called LEAP but unfortunately I couldn鈥檛 accompany him. Soon he was gone.

I was kept busy during his absence. The brigade major asked me to go with a platoon that was taking supplies to the Seaforths and we walked for quite a long way along jungle tracks before eventually arriving there. We stayed for a while and then, when we were leaving, the company commander told me they needed me and asked me to return to them. I said that I was sorry to refuse but that I had no reason to tell the brigadier that I wanted to leave him.

After a week the brigadier returned and we went back into the jungle as the Japanese had gone underground and had dug tunnels. We came across many foxholes which the Japanese had used but they were all empty. These were dug out holes just large enough for a man to get into and then a piece of turf was slid over the opening of each, just big enough to conceal it. We would find these and then move on to find where the tunnel started, usually in a clearing where a lot of brush and twigs signalled the entrance. A tank would be called in, the idea being that the guns of the tank would fire into the entrance of the hole, which they did at point blank range. I did not see any guns appear but the guns brought down a lot of dirt and brush which closed the entrance and the Japanese escape route. We did not wait to see whether the tunnel had another escape route. This was another experience I will always remember. We had advanced to another hill and the Japanese, who were far from the supermen we had been led to believe, were on the run.

Our next move was to Nasik..I was told Mahatma Ghandhi lived there and I saw him once, but only from a distance. He looked very frail. The Japanese had been pushed out of India and the brigadier told me he had to go to Delhi for a couple of days to receive his new orders. He would be going by car but using another driver for thetrip..While the brigadier was away, I stayed behind doing general tidying up and other things. One day I thought I would clean the walls of the brigadier鈥檚 tent and while doing so, I was stung by a scorpion which vanished immediately. I felt my hand and arm beginning to go numb, and my first thought was to try and suck the sting out, which I did. I then left everything and ran to the medical centre where I told the doctor what had happened. He told me I was very lucky as if I had not done what I did, the sting could have been fatal. I heaved a sigh of relief. The numbness wore off after a couple of days. The brigadier got back earlier than he had planned and when I told him what had happened, he told me not to touch the walls any more as scorpions could be dangerous and he didn鈥檛 want to lose me. Then he said he had brought back a friend for me. The friend was a bull terrier about six months old. He was a great dog, full of beans. I had to take care of him and feed him, and he obeyed every word I said. He was great fun. We were very near a river and Jock (that was his name) would go down there and tease all the women doing their washing. I do not think they enjoyed it very much or thought it was great fun!

After being back for a few days, the brigadier told me that he was going to be decorated by General Auchenlek on behalf of the whole brigade for the work that the battalion had done. He asked if I would try and obtain the ribbon for the medal and stitch it on to his uniform. Down to the village I went and managed to get a piece of ribbon which I stitched on to his uniform top. He had to be at the parade early in the morning. To be sure of waking the brigadier in good time, I asked the guard to wake me an hour before I was due to wake him. Alas, it was not my day! The guard did not wake me as arranged so the brigadier was not woken. That was my first telling off! The brigadier just made the parade in time. He received his deecoration and was very proud as it was for the whole brigade, but when he arrived back at the camp, he said, "Lewis, I was told off by the general as the ribbon you put on my uniform was the Indian version, not the British one." My face was so red! That day Lewis was in the doghouse! The days passed by quickly and then came another surprise when the brigadier said that we, as a brigade, were going to Malaya to throw the Japanese out of there. The trip did not take very long.

To read chapter 16 go to: A7356189

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