大象传媒

I was serving in the 6 Medium Regiment in India. We were stationed in a place called Kameraddi. One of my mates was called James Henry Stuart Arthur. James broke his right wrist and I used to write to his mother, who lived in Bariper, Cornwall.

I remember the address. Fore Street, Bariper. James and I were right muckers - he was a real friend to me.

In India we'd get up at about 5am and by the afternoon it was so hot that we'd stop working. It was time for a break but we decided to play football. James was a Rugby fan and wanted to play rugby. The ground was hard and he broke his wrist playing Rugby.

We were mates in India for nearly two years. In fact when I came back to work in England, James stayed in India, where the regiment was re-stationed in the North West of India, a place called Nowshera.

In India, in our regiment I was the only soldier who had a camera. So I took all the pictures. To this day I still have some of these pictures.

I thought it would be nice to meet up with James (whom I always called Arthur) not knowing if he was still alive. So back in January of this year (2004) I had a holiday in Newquay. Previous to going on holiday I'd come into Wickford library and asked staff to help me trace Arthur. We managed to find his details on the Internet including his telephone number. I contacted him and arranged to meet outside Truro Cathedral. We met again after 58 years in January of this year.

The feeling of seeing Arthur was unbelievable. When we saw each other he flung himself around me and it was amazing to meet again after all these years. He introduced me to his wife and we sat and ate together. We didn't stop talking about times in India and what's happened in our lives since. I never believed it would be possible to meet again but the experience was well worth it and I'm glad to have met up with an old friend.

Ernest Gordon Bell. June 23 2004

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