大象传媒

Much later on in my service I was a Flight Sergeant and had applied for a commission. I was stationed in Malta at this time. I received notice that we were leaving Malta and going over to Tunisia. The currency of Malta was quite different to that of Tunisia. We had accumulated quite a bit of money in the Sergeant鈥檚 Mess kitty which we weren鈥檛 allowed to take with us, because we couldn鈥檛 spend it in Tunisia. We decided to spend the money on alcohol and drink it as quickly as possibly, before we were moved. In Valetta, Malta there is a place called the Gust where the 鈥榥ight life鈥� takes place. One of the bars in that area had a sunken dance floor, with the higher surrounding area being where the table and chairs sat and the patrons could have a drink. After we had disposed of the drink which had been bought using the kitty money, we went to this bar with the sunken dance floor. As the evening wore on the bar on our side of the dance floor closed and someone said to me that the bar on the other side of the dance floor was still open. I said, 鈥淚 go over and get some drinks鈥�. I forgot about the step down onto the dance floor from where we were standing and fell down heavily on my knee as I was about to cross. It was a very sobering experience. My mates picked me up, but I was unable to walk. The only transport I could get was a horse carriage, like a pony and trap and I went to a doctor. Unfortunately the doctor was drunk, and he said to leave me there and he would see to me in the morning. I had been moaning all night due to the pain in my knee. In the morning the doctor said I had better go to the hospital where they said I had torn ligaments in my knee. They decided to keep me in hospital and wrapped me up in an Elastoplast bandage. Before putting the bandage on the hospital staff shaved my leg, which was fairly hairy, then the nurse applied the Elastoplast bandage. I was in hospital for about a week and used to keep the patients awake as I was still moaning. Eventually the hospital staff used a syringe and drew off about a pint of fluid. I then had to carry out various exercises to get my knee bending again, using an exercise bicycle, this took about a further two weeks. During these two weeks the soldiers and airmen were moved to Tunisia. At the end of the two weeks the hospital staff decided to take off the Elastoplast. During the time since my injury, the hairs on my leg had regrown through the bandage. They pulled the Elastoplast off while I yelled and yelled, but they just continued to pull the bandage off. During the time I was in hospital the interviews for the commission selection were being carried out. My Squadron had been transferred to Tunisia. I received notice to go and see the Air Commodore in Malta. During the commission selection interview the Air Commodore asked me where my Squadron was. I replied that they had gone on to Tunisia. He asked me if I would like to rejoin them. I said that I would, so the Air Commodore arranged this. He also asked me why I had been left behind, and not wanting to tell such a high ranker I was drunk and thus get a black mark against my name, I told him I had been playing rugby on some hard ground and fell on a stone. The Air Commodore retorted that there was no ground on Malta suitable for games like that as it was a sandstone island. But I got off with that. Eventually my commission came through.

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