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Sicily was a bad country for tank warfare as the RTR soon found out. Lots of the tanks were getting bogged down and we had the same trouble when we landed in Italy. After Messina was captured and the whole of Sicily was in Allied hands, we started to prepare for landings in Italy itself. I was given a job as batman to one of the captains and we boarded an American ship, which was called a liberty ship. This was a flat-bottomed ship and we certainly knew about it! I was asked by the CO if I would serve in the Officers’ Mess and I replied that I would. When I came to serve the first course, which was tomato soup, the ship gave a nasty roll forward as I was walking behind the officers’ sitting at the table. I had a plate of soup in my hand at the time and I spilt it down one of the officer’s back. I was highly embarrassed and the officer jumped up and shouted at me. After all the commotion had died down, he came and apologised to me and said he realised it was an accident and that was the end of it.

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