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Jungle hat, jungle green battle dress, Thompson machine gun (Tommy gun), I was a sergeant so I had a TSMG - Thompson sub-machine gun. We carried a lot of stuff extra magazines, we carried grenades on our belt, and we carried this which is a Dah — it is a machete for hacking through jungle.

On the back we had a bedding roll, which was half a blanket, mosquito net, monsoon cape and a ground sheet and you could use those however you liked —whatever you liked below every man carried a shovel for digging trenches.

The bedding roll- we cut up a blanket between two men so we had half a blanket each, and gas cape and ground sheet and rolled it up in a little bundle, and carried it on our back. We had everything we needed in that bundle; in that little pack:
Mesh tins, spare socks, pants, vest, knife, fork and spoon. Jungle rations waterproof wallet of tablets — sterilising tablets to sterilise the water because the Japanese poisoned some of the wells you see.

I always carried a copy of Dickens ‘Pickwick Papers’. I had it all the way around, but lost it on my way home, but I used to read it because it reminded me of home.

We carried no other equipment except for this.

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Becky Barugh of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Shropshire CSV Action Desk on behalf of Richard Jones and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

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