大象传媒

There are a lot of instances that stick in my mind from the war, especially the sinking of the ship off the coast of France in 1940 when we were being evacuated from Dunkirk. There was also the time when I saw some dead airmen at Helieopolus Aerodrome just outside Cairo. It was the first time I had ever seen a dead person kiled by enemy action. I will never forget the time the Germans bombed the ship in front of us before bombing our ship and knocking our ship out of action. The smell of burning flesh stays with me. It was horrible.

In the Western Desert there must have been many thousands of tons of battered trucks and tanks and guns which were left behind by both sides after the war.

I can remember the time when we pushed the Italians out of North Africa. As we moved up to Tobruk we came across about 100 small Italian tanks which were called the Beetle. They were a one man tank which the Italians filled up with high explosives and sent over into our lines. They were then exploded by remote control to try and cause as much havoc and damage as possible but it was never a success since we used to keep moving our supplies about to different places.

My daughter and son-in-law tell me that I still shout out the names of my old mates, and also orders, in my sleep

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