大象传媒

I was called up as a soldier in the Royal Engineers in 1939, i was 25 years of age. I trained at Scarborough and i then had to go to Coventry to help clear up after it had been bombed.

Later we had to go on a liner call the Andes, which was destined for Suez in Egypt, it took us six weeks. After we arrived at Suez, we went to Cairo.

I remember seeing the Pyramids like it was yesterday, it was very interesting to see.
We went into the desert to build water points for the Eighth Army soldiers, so that they could get water. Whilst we were there we lived on Corned Beef and Army Biscuits. I also remember cooking eggs on the bonnet of the Landrover because it was so hot. The flies used to get in everything! I was also there during the Battle of Alamein. I remember seeing Montgomery and i did not think very much of him.

Later we went to Benghazi, where we built a pipe line nine miles long! This was to provide petrol to the American Air-Force.
After we had built the pipeline, we went on to Syria. Whilst we were there, we had to learn how to build bridges.After this we returned to Egypt to put these new skills to work.

Next we embarked to Italy, where we had to take the Bailey Bridges down so that they could be sent forward to help the troops up front.

I saw many places of interest in Italy and it was amongst the most enjoyable time i spent in the war. We visited Pompeii, Naples(including Mount Vesuvius) and Rome. In Rome we visited all the major monuments and places of interest and i took many pictures.
We were then sent up to Florence, where we had to maintain the Bailey Bridges and restore water and electricity to the city. I made a few friends in Florence, whom i kept in touch with after the war. We were in Italy for a year and a half.
大象传媒 also meant laying and lifting minefields, which was very dangerous work and saw many casualties.

In total we were abroad for four and a half years. We returned by aeroplane back from Naples to England, to find a very different country to that we had left.

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