大象传媒

I was born in Haslingden, Lancashire in 1917. My mother came from Buxton, Derbyshire. We moved to Australia when I was 18 months old. I joined the Australian Army to fight for my mother country, serving in the Artillery. In 1940 we were sent to the Middle East, via the Suez Canal. On arrival we went to Palestine and Lebanon to do more training. I spent some time in Gaza.

We were later moved up to the front lines in North Africa. I remember seeing lots of British soldiers coming in the opposite direction, many of whom were seriously wounded. They wished us luck.

When we arrived at Mersa Matruh we were allowed to go swimming in the sea. there was a very strong and dangerous current in places. One day several men got into difficulties and our officer rescued nine men by making us form a chain gang out of the water. The odd thing was that we could see German soldiers swimming in the sea a little way up the coast.

Our Troop had 25 pounder field guns and we had one British gun with us. One day our officer's voice broke whilst he was shouting the fire orders. He asked me to relay his orders, because my mother had taught me to speak with an English accent and I was the only one the English soldiers could understand.

Part of my job involved repairing phone communications in the salt pan at El Alamein. One day a German Messerschmitt aircraft landed quite near to me. The young pilot stepped out and told us, in perfect English that we were not to touch the aircraft or we would all be killed. He was of course taken prisoner.Apparently it had some new equipment on it and the British learned a lot from it.

One day,as we advanced we came upon an abandoned Italian truck in perfect condition. We had been warned not to go near such things because of booby traps. I was short of phones so decided to have a look, strictly against orders. There was a wireless set inside, in direct contact with Berlin. I also got six wonderful phones out of it which we used.

On another day a friend and I went to look at a German 'Stuka' dive bomber that had been shot down. I was shocked to discover a pilot's helmet with he head still inside it. He had curly blond hair and I felt great sadness as he was so young.

When the Germans were in full retreat the Australians were shipped back home to prevent an invasion of Australia by the Japanese. I spent the rest of the war in Australia.

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