大象传媒

Before the war Alec had been a coal miner in the North East of England but during the depression years of the Nineteen Thirties, with shortage of work, he had been forced into joining the Army - like many others to be clothed and fed.
All inhabitants from the North East are known to the rest of the world as Geordies, being well known as a jovial race, liking a good laugh and a joke: speaking a language of its own made up of heaven knows how many different countries- Scandinavian, yes, but even Arabic words brought back and used by troops from the 1914 War. And it is well known that a Geordie will find amusement even in the face of death.

From the Royal Airforce came the saying of "Beware the Hun coming out of the Sun" which was true enough as the 4th. Field regiment were bombed often enough by Junkers 87 Dive Bombers, their objective being to knock out the British guns, the Twenty Five Pounders, which had been proven the most deadly against the armour protecting the German Panzer Tanks. To replace the lossess of men killed in action, a shipload of new recruits from the U.K. landed in the desert. Among the replacements alloted to the 4th Field R.A. were two homosexuals who were not regular serving soldiers but conscripts who should not have been in the army in the first place.
Homosexuality was never a subject talked about much in those days: not like now, when it seems as common as, say, talking about the weather.

It didn't take long before these two mishaps of nature were promptly called Gert and Daisy, who at the time were two popular known stage comediennes. The two recruits kept themselves to themselves and it's very doubtful if any of the regular troops ever even knew their proper names.

Gert was a cockney from the streets of old London and Daisy, who was the better looking one, had dark wavy hair, blue eyes with peaches and cream complexion and full red lips. He looked like a film star, but came from the farm lands of Somerset.

One day, from out of the sun came a German Messerschmitt 109 fighter plane with all machine guns and cannon's blazing away. Everyone scattered or dived for cover and Alec's favourite place was under the Tractor Quad with his head placed safely behind one of the wheels. It's only a natural animal instinct to find cover when danger is about, but in Alec's case open ground would have been safer as the pilot's
objective was to knock out the vehicles and guns, putting as many as possible out of action.

From behind his wheel coverage, Alec saw Daisy just standing there with his hands on hips while bullets peppered the sand on both sides of him: he had no intention of taking shelter.
When the plane flew off and the dust of battle started to settle the first thing that Daisy said, while taking a good look around with hands still on hips was, "If you lot are men then I'm pleased we are what we are". Shortly afterwards Gert and Daisy were sent back home to the UK. What remained a puzzle was: did the pilot have any intention of harming him ? if not, then Daisy must have had God's Angels watching over him.

Coming from out of his cover Alec noted that some of the transport trucks were on fire and shouted for his mates to rally round in helping to get things sorted out. In one truck he saw a Royal Army Service Corps driver dead at the wheel of his vehicle and his mate had been badly wounded in the thigh where a cannon shell had done his worst. It was a very nasty wound and Alec called for help from his mates to get this injured buddy on a stretcher and to safety.
They carried him up to the main desert road in the hope of catching an ambulance from a passing convoy. After a short wait, into view came a lone ambulance which they waved down to stop. Promptly they opened up the rear doors and, with the help of the passengers already inside, they placed their mate on the floor of the ambulance telling him He'd soon be home in "Dear old Blighty".

As they watched the ambulance drive slowly away into the distance they were thinking "Lucky Blighter". Then they all sat down for a much needed smoke, to recover from the action of battle. They hadn't been sitting down long when Alec jumped up suddenly, having realised that the passengers inside the ambulance all wore soft peaked caps with the German Eagle of the Africa Korps. They had given one of their mates away to a foe - unintentionally, but at least knowing he'd be in good hands even though it would be a long time before he'd see Blighty shores like they had promised him.
Mr J. Dennis Fisher.
Newton Aycliffe
Co Durham.

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