大象传媒

My grandfather, Ernest Hunt, was a Private in The Green Howards, and was a rifleman in an infantry platoon. He was sent to Egypt along with his regiment to join the British 8th Army in their fight against Rommel's Afrika Korp.

Ernie's first and most lasting impression of Egypt was of how "bloody hot!" it was. There were flies everywhere and local Arabs looking to pinch items of food from him and his mates. He thought that camels were the most grumpy animals he had seen and they had a smell which he never forgot.

On a more serious side Ernie saw action in Africa and took part in the famous Battle of El Alamein. He said it was like "hell" and that it was difficult to see anything because of the dust. Ernie was wounded in the leg during the battle after he was shot by an MG-42 in a number of places in one of his legs. He was taken from the battlefield to a series of military hospitals and it took six months before he was fit to return to duty.

The war against Rommel went well and the Afrika Korp was eventually defeated. Ernie rejoined his regiment in Egypt just in time to prepare for the invasion of Sicily. The Green Howards were sent to Sicily and Ernie took part in the fighting. He once remarked how the Italian soldiers "didn't have the stomach for fighting" and that he was much more afraid when taking on German armies. He used to tell stories about the beautiful Sicilian girls they met as they pushed across the countryside.

After surviving Sicily, Ernie and the Green Howards took part in the invasion of Italy. Ernie liked the Italian countryside and enjoyed eating the tomatoes grown by the locals. It was here he developed his love of these juicy red treats and he took up growing them when he returned home after the war.

The Green Howards were fighting more German soldiers and the fighting was very fierce. By this time the Italian army was surrendering in droves and Ernie met many Italian soldiers who seemed like "nice blokes".

Ernie had done a lot of fighting with the Green Howards as the regiment was among the battle-hardened divisions which Field Marshall Montgomery relied on. It was for this reason that Ernie was recalled from Italy with his regiment to prepare for the invasion of France.

When he returned to England, Ernie spent some time in Liverpool, which was where the troop ships docked. It was in Liverpool he met his future wife Mary, my grandmother. Ernie fell in love and never left Mary's side once the war ended.

Ernie went in on a landing craft on D-Day and stepped into France onto Gold Beach, after wading through a lot of cold water. He saw many of his friends die that day and the fighting was "very tough", he recalled. The Green Howards pushed inland and this was where where Ernie found a dead German soldier lying in a ditch. Ernie jumped into the ditch next to the German as his platoon came under fire. One of the German's belt pouches had come off and Ernie looked inside it. He found a compass, which he thought would make a nice souvenir, and he put it into his pack and brought it home. He gave me the pouch with the compass, it still works and I treasure it.

It rained a lot in France as Ernie remembered. He said he and his mates spent a lot of time sitting in ditches, soaking wet. He would spend a lot of time smoking to relieve the boredom. Ernie was lucky in France as he was not wounded, unlike many others. He said the terrain was difficult and the Germans were very good fighters. He made friends with a prisoner they took, called Fred, and he kept in contact with him after the war. This is a good example of how the two sides were just ordinary guys in a very nasty situation, not of their creation.

Ernie survived the war and lived very happily with Mary in Heage, Derbyshire, where he had two sons. He learned a lot in the army and he never forgot his experiences. He was a great gardener and grew cucumbers, rubarb, raspberries, potatoes and, of course, his favourite tomatoes.

I have his medals and the German compass and will keep them always. I am very proud of what Ernie did to enable me to live in a free country and would like to say thank you to him and all of the other Allied veterans of that war for their sacrifice.

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