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I was on a course for more stripes when I was India. My mate John Mailes from back home in Ewyas Harold, Herefordshire was a Bombardier in the Royal Artillery and our parents discovered that we were both in India. My mother told me this fact and I asked her to get in touch with John’s mom and get his address so we could meet up.

I was going down to Pooner to my Staff Sergeant’s wedding. When I told him I wanted to meet up with my mate John down in Pooner, he told me to bring him along to the wedding. We were both in Pooner for the week so we met up quite a few times, each afternoon at least. One afternoon we were going into a restaurant and there were three young sergeants walking in. Amazingly, one of them turned out to be Bobby Watkins, another mate of ours from the next village back home, Abbey Dore. He was a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers stationed near Pooner. Because Bobby was an officer he wasn’t allowed to invite us lower ranks into the officer’s mess so he arranged a private party in his quarters so we could all meet up and have a good time.

During that week, John and I went up to see the ‘Tower of Silence’ on Malibar Hill, which is where the Indians took their dead for their final resting place. They left them on a grill on the top of the hill and the vultures dealt with them. It is supposed to be the last honourable thing they can do for their lost loved ones. This may sound gruesome but in India, vultures are protected birds and it is an honour to be chosen to be eaten by one.

John and I had this picture taken while we were in Pooner during that week. We both had a copy and sent a copy home to our respective families. The funny thing is that when my mother received the picture she looked at it and said, ‘That person with our Wilf doesn’t half look like John Mailes from down the road’. John sent the picture to his mom and she said, ‘That really looks like Wilf’ they had both forgotten they set up the meeting in the first place!

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Jacci Phillips of the CSV Action Desk at ´óÏó´«Ã½ Hereford and Worcester on behalf of Wilf Morgan and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

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