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‘Each night daily orders were posted for the next day's events. One night I noted that I was to proceed to St Andrews for dental inspection. I ran my tongue round my teeth and thought ‘I'm OK’. It will just be a pleasant day out. Next morning I took my place in the lorry and off we went. We all sat in the waiting room until we were called. When my turn came I walked in expecting the all clear. When the dentist said ‘Umph not too good, I shall have to remove these three teeth and put a filling in another one’. It was too late to dodge it and so I was parted with some of my teeth. When it was over, my mouth and jaw were frozen. I couldn't drink a cup of tea before we returned. Some pleasant day out!’

‘A number of the company had already had a lot of teeth pulled to avoid the toothache that was part of life. It was tough on them when we were captured and had to chew hard biscuit or if we were luck some stale bread.’

This story was submitted to the people’s War site by a volunteer from CSV Oxford on behalf of the late Bill Harvey. It is a transcript of his own diary and several interviews. He gave written permission for the material to be edited and published.

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