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A Soldiers Tale

Foreword

This book has been written in two parts, the first tells the tale of my father who as a gunner in the army spent most of the war out in the Middle East, and my mother, who was a shop girl living on the Home Front. It then goes on to tell in a factual rather than romantic way how the two of them met after the war at the shop where my mother worked and quickly became involved and finally got married.

The story shows the harshness of the conditions facing the soldiers from the weather and the desert surroundings and the lack of modern conveniences. It also shows how as a gunner in the artillery, my father had more to fear from disease and poor diet than from the enemy. My father鈥檚 tale illustrates how the boredom and endless routine of life as a gunner was broken up and relieved by trivial events that took on a new significance.

Life on the Home Front was also harsh but rather more civilised with the eternal problems of food shortages. Although many thousands of civilians were killed as a result of bombing life went on albeit in a very different way to that of today. This book clearly illustrates how lifestyles have changed since that almost forgotten age with a lack of modern equipment and technology. It reveals how life was before throw away nappies and prepacked food.

The book goes on to show how the shortages caused by the second word war carried on long after the war was over but did not prevent people from leading fulfilled lives and getting married.

A Soldiers Tale

I was born the year after the First World War ended on the 18th of February 1919 in Derby. At an early age my family moved to a village called Shustoke near to Coleshill not far from Birmingham where I was brought up with my younger brother called Mervin. My school years were not especially memorable other than the fact that I won a scholarship to go to Coleshill Grammar School where I stayed until I was 18. I sat and passed the school higher certificate which was comparable to todays modern A level exams. It was rare for a boy from a working background to have such a good education in those days.

My father was head gardener at a local hall and my mother was a cook at the same big house as they called it. We lived in a cottage and money was not too plentiful so it was decided that I should not go to university but would get a job. My first job was in a furniture shop where the work was sometimes physical, moving stock about, but was always varied and enjoyable.

It was two years after I started work, when I was 20, that war broke out and the call up was made. My brother

Mervin was 5 years younger than me so he did not get called up and join the war until later.

I received my call up papers and was sent to Yorkshire to carry out my basic training that lasted for about 6 months.

It was a particularly cold winter while I was there and we only had wooden huts to stay in at the training camp. There were stoves in them but never anything supplied to burn to produce any heat. One very cold and snowy day I was out for a walk with a group of fellow recruits when just outside the camp I heard the call of nature. There were houses about so I went in the nearby public toilets where I spotted that there were many cubicles all with wooden seats fitted to the toilets. Quick thinking made me realise that these would make excellent firewood. So we got together and tore off all the seats, hiding them under our greatcoats as walked back into camp.

That night we had a good fire in our hut and for once we all went to sleep warm. The next day the MPs (Military Police) went round the camp trying to find out who had been responsible for vandalising the public toilets but we never owned up and they never discovered the fresh ash in the stove in our hut.

After basic training was over I was sent to the Middle East where there was a battle front being fought. There were no long distance troop planes in the early days of the war so we were sent by ship. Quite a few cruise liners were commissioned for war use and were used as troop carriers. However, I was sent out on the Stathallen which I boarded at Greenock. We were there for three days loading the 60 guns and all the equipment.

Eventually we set sail for Cape Town and during the time that I was on watch we lost a man overboard. As we travelled south the soldiers found it too warm in their cramped cabins so most of them slept on the deck where it was a little cooler.

Upon arriving at Cape Town we all split up and toured the area. A small number of us had an invite from the local Mayor to tea and dinner with himself, his wife the lady Mayoress and his daughter. It was his last day in office and he wanted to make a show of his support for our troops. We were treated like Royalty and really enjoyed the celebrations and banquet.

A few days later we sailed for Bombay and then on to Iraq. Many of the soldiers were not used to sailing and got seasick but fortunately I was not one of them. Food rations were fair on board ship but we had a rude awakening when we disembarked at our destination. I started my tour of duty with a temperature and bad cold and was sent to a convalescent camp at Phybes Fort.

Days later after recovering I was sent to a reinforcement camp but here I was ill again, this time with Influenza and I fainted while on guard duty so was sent to an RAF hospital. After examination the medics decided it was sand fly fever and I could not eat. Then I developed Pneumonia because of my weakened state of health and was violently sick all the time from the M and B tablets I was given. A few days later I got yellow jaundice. It was weeks before I had recovered enough to be given a discharge and then I spent 7 days on leave in the RAF camp.

That Xmas I had a good dinner with chicken soup followed by roast chicken with stuffing and all the trimmings including roast potatoes and marrow. This was followed by jelly, blancmange, Xmas pudding, fresh oranges, nuts and raisins. All of this was washed down with a generous helping of beer.

In the New Year I was sent back to camp but the journey was livened up by playing pontoon on the train. I managed to win over 350 fils, which was a nice win. That night at camp it was freezing cold in the tents and to make matters worse we were flooded out. It snowed regularly, thawing in the sunshine of day only to freeze hard again at night.

When we had first made camp the officers had instructed us all to sleep 6 men to a tent because of the cold nights. As the tents were not very large one group of foolhardy lads decided they would be alright with only 4 of them which would allow them a little more room to move. The next morning they were late getting up and when the officer went to investigate he found all 4 of the soldiers frozen stiff, dead of course.

We were stationed in large camps where artillery was set up with large gun embankments and smaller ack ack guns for firing at the planes coming in for air raids. Raids did not happen every day and when they did it only involved between 陆 a dozen and a dozen planes at once. On most occasions a couple of planes would be shot down by our guns but they kept coming.

A lot of time was spent writing letters home to my mother and brother. Sometimes I would send them photographs that I had taken with my camera. It was a simple camera by todays standards but things were much less technical in those days. Sometimes if we were lucky we would receive letters from home with news of current events. (There were no mobile phones to keep in touch with in those days, indeed there were no small portable transistor radios to listen to either.)

Every week we could draw our rations of 40 Players and 60 Woodbine cigarettes, 1 bottle of Lager and a small block of toffee. These were often exchanged and swapped between the soldiers.

As the weeks went by the occasional snow turned to heavy rain and the tents were again flooded with three or four inches of water. This was not so much of a problem as it was trying to keep the gun pits dry with sand bags.

At night we played lots of cards and as I usually won I decided to go into town and buy a silver broach for 400 fils which had been made locally.

One day I was told to help in the kitchens where I tried to light a petrol burner. Unfortunately the petrol vapourised in the hot metal and it exploded in my face. Luckily no real harm was done as the resulting fire was put out quickly.

Trips into the local towns were encouraged to improve moral so I spent some more of my card winnings and bought several items of jewellery to take home with me.

A Break In Routine Life

The routine life of the camp went on for weeks until we were eventually moved and travelled to Teltawa and went through the Kilo Pass. From there into Baghdad and then Ramadi where we camped. It was a desert town with parks and was quite smart. I took the opportunity to buy 250 Players cigarettes and 2 tins of fruit.

From there we travelled further into the desert where we went for miles with no sign of people except for a lonely camel herd with its one driver. We made a temporary camp at a desert pumping station on the Trans Jordan Pipeline. Then the convoy gradually climbed upwards through rockier terrain, that took over from the sandy desert, into a mountainous region finally reaching Hirrbid, a mountain town, with very beautiful orange groves and cactus hedges. From there we could see the snow topped mountains in the distance and below us a fertile green valley with houses.

We journeyed on and reached Hyfa where there was a gun site and settled into the camp. There was lots of guard duty and gun practice for weeks. However there was some incentive to be the best gun crew as they were rewarded with a pint of beer each. It might not seem much to todays soldiers with their well stocked nafis but then it was a rare treat.

One particular day when we had dummy runs several problems developed with my gun. One round jammed and one round failed to explode. Then we discovered the recoil was to slow. Eventually though all the faults were fixed on the different guns and the practice runs ceased.

The mosquitoes were always a problem and one night while I was on the eternal guard duty I was bitten very badly, but, the regular dose of anti-malaria tablets did its job and prevented me from ever getting malaria.

The next week or two was spent digging an alternative gun site and doing some guard duty. In the evenings that I had free I would often get a pass to go into Hyfa to watch a film at the pictures. Some films were all right such as 鈥淓scape鈥�, 鈥淕one With The Wind鈥�, 鈥淓ach Dawn 9 Die鈥� and 鈥淏itter Sweet鈥� but one of the better ones that I saw was a Laurel and Hardy film called 鈥淔lying Deuces鈥�.

We received orders for a group of us to be sent across the border into Syria and on to Tripoli where we were attached to the 37th Light Artillery with the 9th Army. Upon arrival we were ordered to camouflage our tents. It was going to take us hours to paint them by hand so one lad had the bright idea of throwing the tins of paint over them to give a random pattern. Of course it took a lot of paint this way and when we asked for more the sergeant found out what we had done and we were all put on a charge. In the evening I went into town with a small group to watch a film, but, the MPs would not accept our late passes and we were sent back to camp. Other nights we had no problems and usually got in to the film for about 80 Piastres. Occasionally the film being shown would be a foreign one but usually they were English/American even in those days.

Some days I was ordered to chop firewood and on one occasion I cut my finger quite badly and was taken to the nearest hospital in the Majors car which was quite an honour. After having it cleaned up and dressed I had to make my own way back to the camp. That afternoon I had a pass into town again where I bought a 鈥淐onway Stuart鈥� fountain pen for 拢10. Even today this is expensive for a pen but then it was several weeks wages.

During the time I spent out in the Middle East it was a general belief that we, the ordinary soldiers would not be going home again after the war was finally over because we thought that it would be like the 1st word war where most of the soldiers were killed. Consequently we spent what money we had and did not try to save any for the future. Sometimes we would send a little home but mostly we got what enjoyment we could out of it.

Every so often we would have to go either to alternative gun sites that were already prepared, or dig another one. One day while digging in rocky ground I trapped my finger between the pick and a rock causing a very big blood blister with which I had to go sick again to get it dressed.

Most evenings were now spent on guard duty and to lighten this time we would often play cards in the guard tent. However, on one instance we were involved in our usual game, when, we were caught by a Lieutenant who threatened to send us to the Colonel if it happened again.

Free afternoons were often spent swimming in the Med as we were near to the coast. This may have seemed like a luxury but as we were short of water, we were only allocated 2 pints per man a day, we had no means of washing ourselves and keeping clean. We also had to wash our clothes in the sea. The salt made them a bit stiff for a while but gradually they softened up with wear. On one of these swims I had left the main party and found some Aussies who I spent some time chatting to. I totally lost track of the time and when I got back I found that a search party had been organised to try and find me as my squad thought I was lost.

As I have already stated we often had to dig new gun sites and once we had to make a new site near an olive grove. To clear our field of vision we tore down many old olive trees and loaded them into lorries to be taken away. This went on for days until the officer in charge decided that the site was ready and then it was back to the old routines.

The weather was a bit wilder and the sea was too rough for swimming. When it had calmed down a bit I was soon back in it enjoying the water along with many other soldiers. I had swum quite a way from shore when I spotted an Aussie in difficulties further out. I swam to him and decided it was too far to tow him back to shore but spied a very small island close by so I took him there. When the spectators on the shore saw what had happened the lifeguard was alerted who then decided the sea was too rough for him to swim that far out, so, a raft with 6 men on, linked to the shore by a rope, was sent out to fetch us back to the beach. After this rescue I spent more time with the Aussies who liked to gamble. After tossing coins and getting 18 tails in a row I lost 拢30 I curtailed my gambling habits for a short while.

During 14 days leave that I was given I met up with an Arab man who could speak good English and he invited a friend and myself back to his house. When we got there we discovered that he had 5 daughters who could not speak a word of English between them. After a short while he left us alone for the evening with the girls. We communicated as best we could but I think that the Arab man had hopes that we would get involved with the girls and be persuaded to perhaps go further. (A nice English soldier son in law!)

We returned to camp later that evening and when the next day came we were ordered to move the gun site from the olive grove to the top of a hill by a water tower. This meant more digging for several days and caused me to get some bad blisters on my hands that lasted for ages. They were so painful that I went sick in the mornings to get them dressed. Then to make matters worse I developed a bad cold again.

After a couple of days my temperature was far worse, over 100 degrees, so I was sent to a hospital and put on a fluid diet. Shortly after being put into a ward there was a panic about an infection that one of the patients had so it was isolated for 14 days. To pass the time those of us who were able played Monopoly at which I usually won. When the panic was over I was allowed into the gardens to do a little light gardening for some exercise. Eventually I was discharged and went back to guard and cookhouse duties.

As we had so little to eat constipation was sometimes a problem and one soldier had it really bad when his problem was solved in a rather brutal way. He was fooling around the tents and he fell landing on a tent peg. It pierced his trousers and went right inside him. He had to be lifted carefully off it and taken to hospital for treatment.

When I next had an evening pass I went into Tripoli and watched an Arab boxing match also taking the opportunity to buy some more rolls of film for my camera. The following afternoon some of the squadies played a game of volleyball against a team of local Arab lads behind a mosque. That evening I had a good win of 拢10 at Solo that rounded off the week very nicely.

The next week was cookhouse duties all week so to cheer myself up I sent some letters home with some of the jewellery that I had bought along with a number of photos. That Friday brought a dreaded route march. Of course my group got totally lost and could not find our way from the map at all. We waded through several small rivers and crossed 5 lots of barbed wire before we found out where we were. Then to get back to camp we hitched a lift on a French truck that happened to be going our way.

During our excursion I had grazed my hands and banged my knee when I had tripped over. Needless to say the hand festered and had to be dressed for several days and also I developed a bursar on my knee that swelled up to 3 times its normal size. For 4 days I had to treat my knee with an Epsom salt pack that eventually reduced the swelling.

Another afternoon pass took me into Baolbeck where I saw the ruined temples of Venus and Bachus that were very interesting. The next few days brought heavy rains with strong winds and thunder and lightening but we still had our rifle knowledge tests. After the rains subsided a little I was sent scavenging firewood from local abandoned camps. Then more heavy rain came and caused our tent to leak soaking everything in it including our blankets.

As the weather improved we got back to our daily swims in the Med to keep ourselves clean and on one occasion while I was out for a swim I saw 2 of our lads in difficulties in deep water. Fortunately being a very strong but not stylish swimmer I managed to tow them back to shallow water. It was a first for me to tow two people at once but my abilities at swimming were recognised back at the camp because an officer told me to teach a bunch of soldiers to swim. There were about 50 of them and I had never taught any one how to swim before. For a few minutes I puzzled over what to do then I had a brainwave. I lined them all up in shallow water and told them to walk out into deeper water and then run. It was a little reckless but it got them a doing the dog paddle. As they gained confidence they quickly learned to swim properly after a few lessons, at least they could manage a few yards. The officer was delighted.

For a while two Arab boys joined our camp doing odd jobs for various people and whatever small rewards that they could get. Then one morning some things were found to be missing from one of the tents and the boys had left the camp. The MPs informed the local Arab police of their suspicions and the two boys were caught shortly afterwards. The boys were beaten by the police and the things returned making an end to the matter. However a couple of days later my kit bag went missing in the night. After a long search it was found half buried in the sand 100 yards from my tent. There was a court of inquiry because the army takes it very seriously when equipment goes missing, but nobody was found guilty of misconduct although I had my suspicions as to who was to blame.

We moved to a different gun site and made camp on the beach. While exploring one day some of the lads came across some tins that the labels had washed off and some cases of cigarettes lying on the beach. We decided that they had washed ashore from a ship that had been bombed and sunk. Delightedly we shook the tins which rattled and decided that they contained tinned peaches. It was our lucky day, fruit and cigarettes. When we opened the tins they contained carrots, they were still welcomed at the cookhouse but no treat for us. The cigarettes were just as much of a let down because when we dried them they fell apart. We tried smoking the baccy in roll ups but it was salty from being in the sea.

Two more Arab boys soon arrived and made themselves useful around camp washing the dixies and collecting firewood for the cookhouse. Later that week I had a day pass and went into town where I toured a textile mill and saw how the material was made into clothes.

Travelling The Desert

The next move was a major journey into a different country along with the whole regiment. We started the trek by travelling to a transit camp in Beirout where we arrived at 8pm. Then we moved on to Ryhad arriving at 14-30. Here some of us were ordered to dig sanitation trenches.

One morning after making a late night camp in the dark we were woken by wailing cries and discovered that we had made camp in a large makeshift graveyard. The noise was the local women mourning their dead families. Needles to say we hurriedly moved on. After a short stop over we moved on to Zaband where all leave was cancelled because of a smallpox epidemic.

It was very wet and cold but we were allowed to draw some extra blankets from the stores and we made ourselves as comfortable as possible playing brag to while away the time. At one point I was 拢35 up which in those days was a very large sum indeed but needless to say I had a run of bad luck and lost the lot again. While wandering around the stores I found a shelf stacked with tins of peaches and managed to swipe half a dozen tins when no one was looking. After I got back to my tent my mates and myself tucked into them with relish as it was a real treat.

As day came we prepared to move out yet again leaving Ryhad behind and the rest of the regiment joined us as we travelled into Jordan where we saw a fertile valley surrounded by barren mountains. In the distance we were told lay the towns of Galilee and Nazareth. We made a brief stop in Tulkarem where it was very hot and then moved on into the desert and out of Palestine. On one stop we found the local well and saw a dead German soldier floating in the bottom. Needless to say we did not drink any water from that well. Every day we were travelling over 100 miles and eventually we left the Sinai desert and reached Cairo where we saw the pyramids. On passing Al-a-Main we saw a huge dump where there were 100s of burnt out cars, lorries, tanks and even planes. The nearest town to the dump was totally destroyed with not a singe building left standing. Eventually we arrived at Tobruk at 8pm at night. This was our final destination and we set about making a permanent camp.

For several weeks I was on telephone duty taking messages for the Officers and running back and forwards but it was a change from the usual guard duty. At night we had air raids one after another with many planes being shot down.

A couple of days after arriving the well for our drinking water was declared unfit because of Typhoid so we had to go back to drinking bottled water which was mildly salty and not very pleasant to drink. Our water was often stored in large cans that were made of thin tin that sometimes leaked. When we could find them we used any abandoned German cans for storage because they were made of steel and were much thicker. Wartime cans are still in use to day and now unkindly called Jerry cans after the Germans.

Near our camp a lot of large cacti were growing and one bright lad recognised that they were opuntias or prickly pear and they had fruits on that were good to eat. The first problem was how to pick them and get the outer prickly skins off the fleshy fruit inside. The same bright lad suggested using our handkerchiefs to wrap them in. It worked fine and we all tucked in but we had not reckoned on the problem f getting the spines out of our handkerchiefs afterwards so that we could wipe our noses.

Christmas came and for once we had a proper dinner with turkey and pork along with all the trimmings including beans, potatoes and even stuffing. This was followed by Xmas pudding with sauce and two bottles of beer each, although we were allowed to buy 3 more from the canteen. Tea was just as special with Christmas cake followed by cheese and biscuits with some fresh fruit as well. By the end of the day we all felt really bloated as our stomachs were not used to so much good rich food. We slept well that night.

After some time out there I was given two weeks leave so I decided to go to a bigger town some way behind our lines. I left Tobruk by train at 10.30pm and arrived at Armariyah at 12pm cold and tired. There was no heating on the train and I only had one blanket with me. That night I stayed in a transit camp in a tent with no sides in it. 6 am the next morning I caught a train and arrived at my destination an hour later at 7 am. I found a hotel where I decided to stay in the lap of luxury for a few days or at least as long as my money lasted. The hotel was a big place called the Universal Hotel but after going out in the town for the evening I still managed to get lost and could not find my way back to it for some hours.

My first morning there I had breakfast in bed with extra bacon, a real treat as we had seen no real meat for months at the front. My stay lasted for 6 days before money became short and then I went to the YMCA. On the way there I thought that I had lost all my remaining money but fortunately I found it in an inside jacket pocket. During the day I wandered around the town but returned to the YMCA for my evening meal. There was time for shopping and I even found a museum but it was closed for redecoration. One day I decided on a swim in the sea but it was far too cold.

After two weeks of relative luxury and relaxation it was time to return to the camp and the war. I caught a train to Armariyah and again slept in a transit camp. From here I travelled in a lorry in a convoy. There were 16 men of all nationalities to a lorry and we had to supply our own food for the trip.

The convoy did not travel by day and we slept in the desert with no tents around us for shelter. One break was taken outside Mersah and then we went through Hell Fire Pass. Eventually we arrived back at the camp at about 5pm.

I got back into the same daily routine of writing letters home and then one day we all had a treat as a mobile bath unit arrived. It was installed in tents and meant getting in with 30 other men but it was a special occasion as water was in such short supply.

Most of the time we had to drink tea made with salt water which was vile. It would not normally be considered healthy to drink salt water but it was so hot that we sweated out a lot of salt which had to be replaced. Indeed we also had to take salt tablets as a supplement.

Food rations were very meagre compared to that a modern soldier would receive. Our staple food was a type of biscuit
Which was mashed in water to form a sort of porridge for breakfast.

Then lunch would consist of whatever meat that could be obtained, usually tinned corn beef, made into a stew with biscuits broken into it to bulk it out. Then for tea we would have the ever useful biscuits, sometimes spread with a little jam. If we were lucky we supplemented our diet with local fruit such as dates and anything else that could be obtained from nearby towns and villages.

I was wandering around the edge of the camp one day with a group of my mates when we spied a lorry travelling slowly towards us. As it got nearer we could see that it was loaded with nice juicy ripe fresh melons. So we ran along side the lorry as it went past and helped some melons roll of it. What a treat that was!

One week an assault course was set up which we trained on for about 1 hour every morning and afternoon. It was warm work but a welcome change from the monotonous days.

It was suggested by a friend that I should write an article for the camps magazine on a subject that I knew well, Card Sharping. It took me several days before I was satisfied with it and handed it in, I suggested in the article that there were even card sharps operating in my camp. Not me of course!

We all had a lot of spare time on our hands so some of the lads tried making things out old shell cases but I tried carving out a walking stick.

Some of our time was taken up with a driving course. When the time came for the test I decided I did not want to be a driver so I tried to fluff it. The test was very basic and involved a number of us driving in a line across the desert with very little else. I was as erratic as I could be and the examining officer said that anybody who could drive that badly without hitting anything must be in full control of the car so he passed me.

I was a gunner on the big guns but my gun was out of action for a few days until one of the lads fiddled about with it and got the firing mechanism to work again. In those days there was no thought about wearing protection against the noise so the constant explosions of the guns going off led to my having hearing loss. I became quite deaf in one ear, the side that was kept nearest to the gun and had partial hearing loss in the other.

During the early part of the war radar started to be used with the guns. The radar units were housed in a small shed with no windows. We all took it in turns on the screens trying to spot enemy planes but were only allowed to do two hours on duty at any one time. This was because it was thought that the radiation from the screens would cause sterility.

At night when there were no air raids the soldiers would while away the evenings by gambling with various card games. This was frowned upon by the MPs as it would often lead to trouble over accusations of cheating with fights breaking out, but, it was so rife that they couldn鈥檛 stop all the games. I was quite a gambler and by this time was 拢8 and 4/- in credit. This was a large sum in those days but the soldiers were paid in cash and had little to spend their money on in the camp. Some sent money home and others would sometimes make the long walk into town to find a bar.

A Dishonest Bar Keeper

A group of us had gone into one bar and were introduced to the local spirit by the bar keeper. We all got blindingly drunk but left later that night and headed back for camp not suspecting anything. I felt better than the others so I left them behind and made my own way. Part way back I felt worse and it was a long walk so I took shelter in a small stone building. I passed out and was so bad that I did not wake up properly the next day but just slept through it. Finally after a couple of days I roused and felt woozy but dry and well enough to make it the rest of the way back to camp. When I got there the NCO asked me where I had been because they had sent out a search party for me. Apparently the other soldiers had collapsed in town and been taken to hospital where they had their stomachs pumped. It turned out that the bar keeper had been mixing aviation spirit with the local spirit to make it go further. They had given me up for dead it was that serious.

There were few cigarettes available so I bought a pipe and some baccy but I broke it on the first day. That night I found someone who had some adhesive tape and used it to mend my pipe. Then there was a row over how much tape I had used.

We made a new camp and found ourselves surrounded by mines which were forever exploding. For a while we had gunner practice and rifle firing exercises every day. We also had grenade throwing practice during which two Sudaneese lads were seriously injured. Some afternoons we had time to play games of football and it was during one of these hard fought games I received a nasty kick which was painful for a couple of days.

Every so often a concert party would tour the camps, staying for a few days in each giving a musical performance to the troops. It was meant as a moral boost and was a very welcome change to the monotonous routine of camp life.

One day while having my morning shave I had a bright idea. Water was severely rationed to a few pints a day, that included water for washing with. It was so scarce that people saved it and washed in it several times before throwing it away.

I had read about filtration systems and how they worked so I thought that I could build a simple one. I found an old fuel drum of which there were many, upended it, cut out the top and fitted a tap on the bottom. After this I filled it with sand which was all around us. Then I explained the idea to a group of soldiers who I persuaded to tip in their dirty washing water. After several bowl fulls had been tipped in still nothing came out. More was added and eventually clean water started to trickle out. However only a small amount came out compared to that which had been tipped in. Then started an argument as to how the clean water was to be shared out. When the next morning came round the sand in the drum was dry again and needed a lot more water tipped in to wet it before clean water came out. After a couple of days the constant arguments over the clean water produced dissuaded people from using it and it was soon forgotten.
For several days we had air raids but most of the time the incoming planes were too high to hit. There was often gunnery practice but it made no difference in our success at hitting the raiders.

Occasionally we had showers but mostly it was just hot. On one day in particular we recorded a temperature of 109 degrees Fahrenheit. In the evenings when it was a little cooler we often played football matches against groups of lads from different parts of Britain. West Yorkshire, Midlands, Tyne Tees etc were all areas that were represented in our camp. Some games we won and others we lost but most were a little rough to say the least but we always gave as good as we got. Often when I woke up the next morning I was stiff and bruised all over but it did not last.

Most days I went swimming in the sea in the afternoon when it was very hot to cool of but eventually this was stopped by the NCO who said he could find plenty of jobs for us to do. However he would let us swim on Saturdays and Sundays.

The latrines were a simple affair consisting of a trench with boarding secured above it to sit on and for privacy the whole lot was hidden behind a screen. Periodically these were filled in and a new one was dug but to save having to dig a new one every day, petrol was thrown in and this was then lit to burn the waste and reduce the smell and flies a little. One day everybody had been told that it was about to be lit when an officer rushed up and went in to do his business. He was warned that it was about to be lit and could not be used for 5 minutes, but it did not apply to him as he was an officer. The soldier with the match did not see him go in and tossed the lit match into the trench. There was a flash and an almighty howl from the officer who came out smoking.

I was only paid 拢1 a week but by this time I estimated that I was 拢10-18-8d in credit with the paymaster as I did not draw much of my wages. For one thing there was not much to spend it on unless you were on leave.

There was a daily ritual of writing letters home to mother and my brother and occasionally receiving one back. This boredom was broken by an inspection for lice. All our kit and blankets were examined but none were found. Our blankets were even fumigated as a precaution.

By now I was in credit with the paymaster to the tune of 拢14-10-10d so I decided to send 拢5 home to mother. Also I made a weekly allowance home of 1/6d which in todays money would be 7 陆 p but then it was worth an awful lot more.

For a couple of days we were without any hard biscuits and had to manage on what little supplies we had got in the camp but eventually a fresh delivery arrived much to our relief. They were not particularly flavoursome but the filled our bellies up.

A small group of us took a short trip into the nearest town in the evening and while we were wandering around a sheik drove up to us and asked us if we had eaten. We all replied that we had not, wondering what was on his mind, he told us to jump into his large open car. Then he drove off and treated us to a 7 course meal at his mansion.

On a short trip into the local village I bought some cordial thinking that it would give me some relief from the camp brews but when I drank it, it tasted bad and shortly afterwards I was violently sick. Another highlight of that week came when a cat wandered into our tent. There was some speculation as to who鈥檚 it was but it seemed happy enough to stay after being given a little milk(powdered milk of course). We kept it for a few days and then it wandered off just as easily as it had arrived.

We were getting plagued with flies so the NCO ordered us to dig some new latrines to freshen up the camp but when we started to dig where instructed we hit rock only 6 inches down. After much scouting around and many experimental holes we eventually found a suitable site and the latrines were finally dug.

I had a cold for several days but eventually it cleared up and instead I was driven to distraction by fleas. After examining my bedding I found 20 of the little blighters which were duly exterminated. Next came a dust storm which reduced visibility to 5 yards at its worst. We al took shelter in our tents and sat it out until it was over. The wind was like a blast from a furnace making everything too hot to touch.

A few days later at 6-30pm one evening we were ordered to pull out and move camp. It was not until 4-30 am the next morning that the camp was ready to move with all the guns, munitions and kit stowed away on lorries. We had no sleep that night and the convoy got lost on the way to Tobruk but eventually we arrived and made camp.

This camp was nearer to a town and we got more post which meant that for several days running I was on post duty delivering the letters to my fellow soldiers. Also at night we often had an outdoor film show. In the morning we had a new routine of PT training and swimming.

One morning a small lorry arrived at the camp and the driver asked the officer in charge if we wanted to buy some cakes. All food was welcome so we took delivery and the driver started regularly supplying the camp. The cakes were a welcome relief from camp food and obviously fresh because they were baked locally. On a visit to the nearby village with some mates we spotted the delivery man and chatted to him. He proudly showed us where the cakes were baked. A crude oven was used which was lit with twigs and branches on the inside and then when it was hot enough it had piles of camel dung thrown in. This burnt and then the cakes were slid in to cook. After we had returned to the camp and told them what we had seen the cake order was cancelled.

We were quite close to Heliopolis so at night some of us would take a trip into the town and have a drink. On one day in particular I took a trip into Cairo which was not too far away and went into the new museum of Hygiene. This illustrated vividly such diseases as Pox. Not a particularly savoury subject but t was interesting never the less.

Camp life made ordinary events take on a new significance such as the time I broke my glasses. The only person who could test my eyes and get me a replacement pair was the camp doctor. Of course the new pair took several days to arrive so I had to go sick until they did because my eyesight was too poor to carry out any duties.

Sick With Pneumonia

I had another bad cold, or at least that is what it started as but I became feverish with headaches and started to be violently sick. The MO decided that I had a slight touch of pneumonia so he gave me some M and Bs which were the cure all tablets of the day. Penicillin was scarce and all the other powerful anti-biotics known about today had not been discovered then. For a couple of days I could not even keep fluids down properly but gradually I improved and started to eat a little minced chicken.

There were several days of total bed rest before the doc said that I could get up for an hour. Naturally I overdid it and played table tennis for quite a while which brought me a cursing from the MO but it was a sign that I was feeling better. The next day I was allowed up for two hours so I had a little walk and bought a bracelet which I was eventually to give as a present to my future wife. After this I was told to report to the wardmaster and then I was sent to a convalescence camp to fully recuperate.

I was transported to Cairo Railway Station by ambulance and from there caught a train at 9-30 for Alex. Upon arrival I was graded unfit for any duties for several days after which I was allowed a little swimming with some PT exercises every day.

While recuperating, I was seen by a dentist, who made a mould for my missing two front teeth. A few days later the replacements were fitted. After skipping fatigues one day I was sentenced to two days in the cooler.

For a short while I was placed on POW guard duty but as my boots were too small I had to buy a pair of shoes that cost 拢1-0-10d. It may not seem much today but it was a weeks money in the army.

Soon I was discharged as fit by the CO but immediately reported sick as the new shoes had given me some very bad blisters on my feet. After my feet had recovered and the 5 days light duties were over I was ordered to give a pint of blood but the one consolation was all donors received a good measure of brandy afterwards.

Then I was fully discharged and left the base arriving back at camp 4-15. The journey back was by train and at one point I had a 4 hour wait on the station for my train. When I reported for duty I discovered that I was due for a few days leave so I left the camp by lorry and went to Suez to explore. The first thing I had to do was have a row in the Suez Canal, so I found a small boat that I could hire and set off. I rowed around for several hours until I was tired but in all that time I only saw two ships. Later I found a club and had a cheap meal that was still better than camp food.

After returning from leave I got back into the routine of writing letters home, playing football or cricket when there were no duties and generally whiling away the hours between air raids. The pneumonia left my lungs susceptible to infection and I was forever getting bad colds.

By this time I had drawn so much of my pay that I was actually in debt to the paymaster but that did not stop me from enjoying myself when I next took some leave in Port Said. After all I still had my gambling money to fall back on. A small group of us went into the YMCA for a meal and later on to a club where we had brandies followed by gin and limes. We all got thoroughly drunk but got home safely enough.

Night time brought guard duties but in the day we had discovered a new past-time. There were lots of crabs in the rock pools in the sea and we found that if we tied a small piece of meat to a length of string on the end of a long stick we could catch crabs. All we had to do was dangle the meat into a pool and wait for a couple of minutes. Then a gentle pull and a crab would come out clinging on to the scrap of meat. One afternoon I caught about 50 that were then taken back to the camp and given to the cook. We all looked forwards to cooked crab that night but unfortunately for us the cook served them to the officers as he said there was not enough to feed the whole camp.

We had been warned about the dangers of creeping, biting and stinging poisonous insects in camp but people sometimes forgot. One morning we left our tents to see an NCO run past shouting that he had been stung on his privates and someone would have to get the poison out to save his life. We all fell about laughing and no one volunteered but it was serious and we did not see that officer again in camp.

The weeks went by and I had another 7 days leave so I travelled to Cairo where I caught a barge up the Nile. On the trip I met some nursing Sisters and was invited to a tea party which was a very pleasant change from the bawdy nature of camp. Next I saw the Pyramids and for a few days behaved like a tourist wandering around and seeing the sights. Eventually my leave finished and I headed back to Port Said but no sooner was I back than I was on sick again. This time it was due to a swimming accident when I cut my forearm badly on some sharp rocks while swimming underwater. The cut turned septic so the medic sent me to the local hospital where I was given Morphine and taken straight into the theatre where it was treated. I was to be kept in but asked to be discharged and left, returning to BHQ. From here I was sent to Amarya .

My arm was bad for several days so the doc put it in a sling and gave me the infamous M and B tablets. While off sick again, I sent some Xmas cards home with letters and did my best to while away the days.

Eventually the whole battalion was ordered to board a ship and was sent to Malta and then on to Tripoli. We travelled through the night and the sea was very rough making most of the soldiers on board seasick. The decks and passageways were covered in sick giving the whole ship an unpleasant smell. Next morning the decks had been washed clean by the rain and the spray but nobody came down to breakfast. I went into the galley where the cook had prepared masses of food including bacon, eggs, mushrooms, tinned tomatoes and fried bread. When I walked up to get my food the cook beamed at me and piled my plate high with as much as he could get on it. He was pleased that someone was going to eat his food. After clearing my plate I went back for seconds and then thirds until I was absolutely stodged.

We landed and were loaded onto dozens of trucks and then ferried inland travelling for hours before we reached RHQ.

Again we settled into a routine of football and swimming between raids and this went on for months. Occasionally in an evening there would be card games when we could get away with it. My gambling fund grew and grew until the end of the war finally came and we were all to be flown home in one of the new transport planes.

We were advised of the different amounts of foreign currency that we could exchange and I realised that I was well over the limits. So I divided my pile of notes up into little bundles and passed them around the other soldiers on my flight. I said to them that if they changed the money for me they could keep a quarter of it. They changed it alright but naturally enough I did not see most of them again. A few honest individuals came up to me and handed me the English money that they had received in exchange. What I should have done was to take it to a bank when I got home but I was too keen and naive.

Authors Addition

This story of my fathers life in the Middle East campaign was taken from 2 diaries that exist but unfortunately he did not keep any diaries of his time spent in Europe at the end of the war. We know that he travelled around Eastern Europe and even Germany at the end because he brought a lot of foreign coins and notes home with him after the war was finally over. We also know that he was de-mobbed in March 1946 when, along with all the other surviving soldiers, he was given a set of clothes to return to civy street with. These comprised of a navy blue pin striped suit, one white shirt, a trilby hat, an army great coat and a pair of black shoes.

One might have thought that jobs would be plentiful as factories returned to more normal production but a lot had been destroyed so jobs were quite scarce. After a week or two at home he did find a job in a factory. It was while working there that he first met my mother as you will see later on in the book.

For Part Two See A Shopgirls View Of World War 2

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