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This story has been written onto the ´óÏó´«Ã½ People’s War site by Callington U3A — Meg Bassett — on behalf of Mr A M Wilkie, my deceased uncle, who donated his memoirs to me.

(After arriving at Port Suez, the troops went by train to Cairo.)

We marched outside the station, climbing on to a line of giant Hippo trucks then drove for miles across the sands to Ben-Y-Usif, a tented city in the desert. We were supplied with charpoys and given a meal which was instrumental in giving us all the runs. The primitive toilet system was soon overloaded while 240 men squatted in the sand, cursing the British Army and all it stood for. Next morning, on sick parade, we all swallowed the infamous No 9 pill and began performing long desert route-marches, which made us leaner, browner and much healthier soldiers.

Cairo, as our nearest city, with public transport to and from the Pyramids (about half a mile from our base) became the mecca for souvenirs and entertainment. Camels, donkeys, mules and horses jostled against expensive automobiles on the overcrowded streets of the bustling city. Beggars, in filthy robes, accosted all and sundry, wailing eternally for ‘Baksheesh, effendi — for the love of Allah’! Houseboat trips on the Nile were too costly for the troops but the Pyramids were very accessible to men and women in uniform in 1941. I climbed to the summit of the famous pyramid at Ghiza, built by Cheops, for a breath-taking view of the Nile Valley.

The first enemy air-raids on Egyptian cities sowed land mines in the Canal area, while huge RAF ‘planes, fitted with degaussing gear, patrolled the Canal daily to de-activate any mines dropped during the night. The Indian Army gunners manned the AA guns defending the Canal. We constructed base hospitals in the Canal Zone and a pontoon bridge at El Ballah. El Tahag was the main base for General Wavell’s Army of the Nile.

(Sapper Wilkie was then posted to Damascus, then to the Bekka Valley, before returning to Cairo.)

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