大象传媒

Better Born Lucky Than Rich

Story 6 鈥� Don鈥檛 Always Believe What Your Told
During our four years in the Middle East, 2 years in Iraq, 1 year in Palestine, and 1 year in Egypt, there was information given to us all the time that we could not check on. Three friends and myself visited three friends in hospital on our camp and that was about a mile away and they were very ill. One of them, a Welsh lad, told us he had been lifted out of bed 30 times up to us going to see them and that they all had dysentery and had been in hospital for 2 days. We all had 5 or 6 of the 12 illnesses. Some were worse than others and if you did not go to hospital you were given no sympathy and had no time off. You had to hope a couple of tablets would keep you going in the heat of 145 F and with a very high humidity. The temperature information was given to us by an American weather station and the highest midnight temperature was 112F and the Americans left us half way through June!

Asking a few days later how our mates were doing we were told 鈥渢hey had gone to Iran to recuperate鈥�. We did not believe that and we thought they must have died. Others told us their mates had been sent to Iran as well, they like us also thought the worse. Months later we were able to find the truth, which I begin to explain. We had been in Basra in Iraq for a few weeks short of 2 years and were told we were going to Palestine, but Palestine wouldn鈥檛 be able to take us for a few weeks so we were going to Habbaniya in the very North of Iraq. We wondered why we were going so far just to wait to get to Palestine. We did not know the exact mileage at the time and thought it was about 500 miles, but it was nearly 800 miles in fact. We boarded a train early morning to go as far as Baghdad, which was about half the way Habbaniya. It was quite a rough ride and we slept when we could: the split wooden windows let a sandstorm in during the night and when we woke we were just balls of sand. We arrived in Baghdad after maybe two days. We were taken to a transit camp in Baghdad for a few days were a minister asked if anyone would like to go to Babylon (about 25 miles away) and 25 of us decided to go. I think it only cost a shilling for the 50 mile round trip. The minister came with us to explain anything and it was sand, sand all the way, no roads just desert. At the base of the Tower of Babel, which

still was 40ft high but getting very flimsy and scratching around the base. I found a piece of an old urn about 2 inches square and half an inch thick and it looked very old. I photographed the remains of the Hanging Gardens, still about 15 feet high, and part of what was left of the main street. I still have these photographs and they were taken with a box camera. Lorries moved us from Baghdad to Habbaniya.

The first thing we saw was a huge lake, but no planes. The bedrooms had proper coverings and a good bed, very large room with several settees around the room. The food was very good and plenty. There were toilets in a large room behind the bedrooms and working water and drinking water I believe. At Basra we dipped our mugs into a big urn standing outside our billets in the blazing sun and they replenished it only when it was empty. No other drinking water at all; it would be poisonous. I don鈥檛 think the water outside our billets were very healthy anyway. To pass water there was a hole in the sand, but it was never used as we sweated day and night.

Being at Habbaniya was like being in a hotel after Basra with its hazards of intense heat, many illnesses, and where friends were fighting a loosing battle in hospital. The second day at Habbaniya four of us did a guard on a Sunderland Flying Boat that landed on the lake and they told us we could cook anything from the fridge so we really felt pampered. Leaving the flying boat in the morning a British civilian asked us to have a drink in his office and it was a good measure of whisky. I don鈥檛 like whisky so he gave me a glass of beer, the Scots lad that was with us had my whisky with his own and we had to help him walk straight afterwards.

Several of the lads and myself had a confab the third night and we decided that we were all brought here because of the poor condition we were in (after the several illnesses and weight loss through the immense heat) and before we may die. Not one of us weighed more than seven stone! There would be no recuperating in Iran as they tried to inform us because Habbaniya was the place to recuperate and we were doing that before we got any worse. To be honest our friends who died really saved our

lives because they must have pricked the conscience of the people running our outfit in Basra. I don鈥檛 think Palestine wasn鈥檛 ready, I think it was us that weren鈥檛 ready to go Palestine. Our condition frightened our bosses! I do not trust any more the persons that give wrong information.

There is another case which happened when we were hit amidships going to Iceland to fool the German submarines that were heading North. We were really going to turn and go South round Africa to go to Iraq.

There were four nights of thick fog and this happened on the first night of the fog. The convoys all zigzag trying to fool anyone aiming at them. In the fog the Warwick Castle who had swerved to miss a small navy boat hit our Windsor Castle. We had a gash in our amidships that was yards wide and yards deep. We were listing with water going down into the boat and we looked a hopeless case. 3 lifeboats had been swept away but luckily they blocked the hole and stopped a lot of water going into the boat. The ship was very bad and the whole side of the ship could not be used.

My friends and I wondered how the Warwick Castle had finished up, so we asked an officer who said he would find out if possible. He came back later saying 鈥渋t was making its way to Newfoundland鈥�, I thought that that may be an untruth because why would they go there when England, Scotland, France and Iceland were all quite near? These are only 100, 200 or 300 miles away whilst Newfoundland was maybe 2000 miles away. The Warwick Castle I think was worse than us, its front end smashed in and maybe two sides smashed in with water flowing in fast. I hoped they got away ok and would still like to know the truth. As I said I never trust anyone that gives wrong information. With the truth you can work out what you want to do and help if possible.

Sorry. Just to finish off how we left Habbaniya. We were there for a month and it was like a posh holiday, and they called it 鈥淎ircraft Depot鈥� but we only ever saw one plane. We wandered about as we pleased in cleaner air and weather conditions of

only 90/100F instead of the 145 F with high humidity that we had had to put up with. Egg Ed Buses (4 of them) took us through the desert (no roads). They were Palestine buses and we slept in them and had our meals in the desert, making a fire to warm our tins of eats up etc. It took us four days to get to Lydda and that was 850 miles and the last 200 were through Jordon.

The next morning going for a meal I went cold and then hot and started shivering. My mates said, 鈥測ou can鈥檛 be cold in this sun!鈥� I was told that I had caught Sandfly Fever and ended up in hospital for a week. Whilst in hospital my mate caught Malaria and was told that he would have to take Quinine for the rest of his life. The effects of Sandfly fever have never really left me and has come out really strong 4 times since: Once whilst on holiday in Cyprus I ended up in hospital for the whole week! The staff at the hospital didn鈥檛 know what was wrong with me, so I told them about my Sandfly Fever, but they had never heard of it. Two years ago I fell ill and my doctor came to see me when I was feeling hopeless but he didn鈥檛 know what was wrong with me and therefore gave me nothing. Later, at his surgery I suggested that it may have been a side effect from the Sandfly Fever with something else mixed in. He got a huge book out and asked where I was when I caught the fever. I told him Iraq, a slight possibility Palestine. He said 鈥淵ou didn鈥檛 have Sandfly Fever, they don鈥檛 have it there!!!

Jim Grigor

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