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After receiving our final instructions from the CO we left for Liverpool docks. On arrival, we boarded a troop ship and set sail at about 4 o’clock in the morning for the Middle-East. We sailed through the Bay of Biscay and down the west coast of Africa before docking at Cape Town. We spent a day ashore there. We found this very appetizing after being of the ship for three weeks. The people there were very friendly and hospitable but before we went ashore the ship’s Captain told us to be on our guard against idle gossip and fifth columnists whom, he said, were everywhere.

As things happened, my two mates and myself were walking along the docks making our way to the town when a big Plymouth saloon car pulled up beside us. The occupants of the car were a young man and lady who were about 25 — 30 years old. They asked us if we had just come off the ship and we said that we had. They asked us if we’d like to go to their house for lunch and that their house was just the other end of town and so we accepted their offer. The three of us got into the car and we were driven ff. To our surprise we saw, lying on the floor just in front of us, a hand grenade. We kept looking at each other until the young lady saw that we were puzzled. She told us not to worry because it was just a cigarette lighter and that we should relax and enjoy ourselves, which we did for the rest of the day.

We returned to the ship that night and set sail early the next morning. Our destination was unknown to us until we arrived at Port-Tuffike at the entrance to the Suez Canal. We then travelled by cattle truck, running at the side of the Suez Canal until we arrived at El-Qantara which is on the border of Egypt and Palestine (Israel). We crossed the Sinai Desert to Palestine; our destination was called Nathanna. After a few weeks we were moved to Jerusalem. To pass the time away we used to have a game of football. At the end of the football pitch, about 5 or 6 yards behind the goal, was a pit about 15’ square and about 5’ deep. We used to put the stuff from the latrine into it then cover it up with Jeys Fluid to keep the flies off. Well, this day in particular there were some new chaps who had come to the camp and one them asked us if he could have a game with us and we agreed. One of our lads took a shot at the goal but he missed. The ball landed in the hole that was used for emptying the stuff from the latrines. One of the new lads ran for the ball and before we had time to tell him not to, he jumped into the hole to get it back . He landed up to his stomach covered with you know what!!

After we received further training we were sent to Cairo where we were billeted in some Egyptian Army Barracks at Abasir. We were then transferred to the Heavy Tank training Squadron where we were supplied with Matilda Mk 2 tanks. These were bigger tanks than the ones we had in France which were Mk 1’s.

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