大象传媒

During the very hot summer of 1942 the army made great efforts to prepare men thoroughly for the conditions they would meet when posted to the western desert. Part of my grandfather's farm had been taken over by the army as a live ammo training area the previous year. In the effort to prepare men for the desert however, one field was given over in 1942 to the digging of two man trenches where the men would sit all day in the hot sun to practice water deprevation. According to my mother, their fluid intake was limited to one cup of tea in the morning and one cup of tea in the evening, the intervening time being spent sitting bored in open trenches under the sun without a drink. The official thinking apparently was that if the men were already used to being in hot conditions without much to drink, they would find conditions in the actual desert easier to cope with. My grandfather apparently thought that this idea was ludicrous, saying that if we wanted men who would be able to fight in North Africa, it made little sense to kill them with thirst before they got there. To that end he decided to try and get them an extra cup of tea at lunchtime, but he was rebuffed on this by the army. He decided therefore, that, even if he could do nothing more, he would make sure that at least one soldier got a cup of tea at lunchtime. As the army had posted observers to make sure everyone did as they were supposed to, it was impossible for him to take anything over to the trenches himself. So it was that my mother, aged three at the time and thus considered small enough not to be noticed, would appear quietly through a small gap in one of the hedges that surrounded the field each day and profer a mug of tea to the soldiers in the nearest trench. Since then she has often imagined that there must have been strong competition to get a place in the trench by the hole in the hedge.

Paul Geddes

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.