大象传媒

An incident that I will never forget. In April 1943 my Regiment were clearing pockets of Japanese from the villages and fox holes in the Indin area of the Arakan in northern Burma. By about four p.m. it appeared that we had cleared the area of Japanese and that it was necessary for me to use the toilets. We had been on the move all day, there was no toilet prepared and it was necessary to find a suitable spot. About twenty five yards away were a number of Banyan tress which looked like open umbrellas and the branches travelled the ground, giving some cover. The areas around and under the trees were covered with leaves discarded y the trees. On the way to the nearest tree I gathered ferns to act as toileting material. Having got under the branches I Deposited my sten gun and equipment in a safe place and proceeded with my toileting. All was quite, then suddenly there was a footstep in the dried leaves outside the branches, a further ten seconds passed then another footstep, by this time the perspiration was dropping from my forehead and nose and I thought, Bennett your dead. Particularly if it is a Jap with a Samurai sword. Then a further footstep, and through the curtain of twigs and leaves came the head of a large brown snake. We used silk scarves to signal to pilots to drop supplies, and I whipped this from around my neck and hissed like mad, and the snake disappeared from whence it came.

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