大象传媒

Epilogue

My intention when narrating this book was, as far as I was able, to portray something of the life of one young man among the hundreds and thousands of others whose experiences during the period of the late 1930s through the years of war and its aftermath into the 1940s, were similar to my own. It is my wish that they recognise some of those similarities and are able to see resemblances in many of the incidents and situations.
Well before I had written a word I had the title in mind, it was and still is 鈥楾he Lost Years鈥� - its adoption seemed to me at the time to suit the purpose of my writings, now however, on reviewing what has been written I have doubts and wonder if that chosen title is entirely appropriate because it appears to describe those years as being 鈥榣ost鈥�. In otherwords, misspent and wasted, which I am certain was not the case. In fact far from being 鈥榣ost鈥� to me they were in many ways beneficial and brought advantages which I would not have encountered in any way in a different life.
I wouldn鈥檛 at that time have travelled as extensively as I did, nor would I have sailed the seas in a luxury liner, even though converted to carry troops, that was unheard of then outside of the domain of the very rich. Although those journeys were fraught with danger they carried me to far-off places, new horizons, lands which I had only read about in my previous life. Such wonderful places as Cairo and Alexandria which although in the zone of conflict were untouched by any direct of action of war.
In Egypt, where on being awakened by the bugler鈥檚 Reveille and with the 鈥榗har-wallah鈥� with his bucket of tea, on opening the tent flaps and seeing at a distance of a few hundred yards those great stone monuments to the Pharaohs, the Pyramids, was a sight not easily forgotten. Then there was the Western Desert which I loved (when it was not being used as a gigantic battlefield) and which was hated by many others. I have some wonderful memories of the island of Cyprus with the Troodos mountains, its fertile plains, streams, orchards and vineyards, now changed of course by the advent of Tourism.
There were some fine cities in Europe which I had the pleasure of seeing before many of them were turned into rubble and dust, and recollect a great deal of the French countryside in the months before the evacuation of Dunkirk - from the interior of a horsebox which was labelled 鈥�40 Hommes 8 Chevaux鈥� during one of our missions to intercept reported German parachutists.
It is of course true that all those instances and travel and sights accorded to me in no way compensated for my lack of freedom as an individual; the freedom to pursue the simple pleasures of youth which I believe that all men (and women) ought to have the right to enjoy but which was unfortunately denied my generation, as it was our fathers鈥� some twenty years before.
But again if it had not been my lot to be called to serve would I have still been cycling to Bedford to work, would I ultimately have been provided with a van? Who knows, I鈥檓 sure I鈥檒l never know. I went away a boy with little knowledge of the outside world being aware only of my own home territory and not very much beyond our county boundary, but when once involved with men of the world as those old soldiers certainly were and with so many different types of characters I soon grew up and enjoyed their association. They told me early on that it took just one taste of battle for a boy to become a man.
To be a member of a regiment was to be part of a team, like a large family where everyone relied on the other members often just for survival. It added up to a feeling of belonging, of being needed, and I know that of any of the gains that there were it was the binding together of men in a common cause, it was 鈥榗omradeship鈥�, which is so much more in my opinion than just friendship.
Surely too, there was something more which could be counted as a benefit and that was the fact that we helped preserve the freedom of our nation. We assisted in freeing those other nations across the Channel who for years had been subjected to Nazi tyranny. That in itself I believe was cause enough to feel proud that I was given the opportunity to play a small part in it and to consider it to have been worth giving up part of our lives for.
I believe that the war we fought was 鈥榡ust鈥� and that when it was too late that there was no alternative. I think though that it could have been avoided and it need not have been necessary to fight if some of the leading politicians of the day and a large proportion of the aristocracy had not been so keen to allow Hitler and his Nazi henchmen to build up such a large military machine to a strength far beyond that decided at the Peace Conferences after the German defeat in 1918.
But the warnings of their warlike aims were ignored because of the belief that a strong Germany would be a bulwark against what they called a Communist threat to our country. It was of course true that there was a fear that many people would turn to Communism or to that other alternative, to the Fascists, then being led by Oswald Mosley, because there was a great deal of unrest among the ordinary working classes, due mainly to the suffering caused by the high level of the unemployed which affected them and their dependents.
The total of unemployed had risen to around three million; there would have been a great following at that time for anyone who could ease their misery by providing work for them. It had already happened in Germany where Hitler had created work although it was mostly due there to the vast rearmament programme and the building of the autobahns. It was the case of a starving man and his family being willing to follow anyone in exchange for a loaf of bread.
At the same time there was a strong belief in complete disarmament by a large section of the Labour Party and in the Universities also where the Oxford Union had passed a proposition that 鈥渢hat this House will in no circumstance fight for King and Country鈥�. On the other hand there was just a small minority led by Winston Churchill who repeatedly pointed out the threat which existed of a militant Germany bent on war. Unfortunately their warning went unheeded.
This account of my personal knowledge of events, incidents and observations throughout a period of about twelve years of my young life is described as accurately as possible but if there are any discrepancies with regard to dates, times, places, then I offer my apologies. Where too it may appear that there is a lapse of memory then might I be excused by reason of age?
After my misgivings regarding the suitability or otherwise of the title 鈥楾he Lost Years鈥� I still haven鈥檛 changed it in spite of those doubts because I can鈥檛 think of a more fitting alternative.

Fred Digby
(The Lost Years written in 2002)

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