大象传媒

At the outbreak of the last war my 19 year old brother-in-law, Leslie Bayliss, was one of the first men to be called up, having had experience as a GPO Linesman. It was only natural that he joined the Royal Signals Regiment.

Sometime after his training had finished and in the knowledge that he would be sent overseas, Leslie married his sweetheart, a dear girl called Agnes. Sure enough, he was posted to the Western Desert and attached to the 1st Armoured Division.

It was about this time that I was called up and joined the Royal Artillery. After my training, I too was posted overseas. One day whilst on a short leave and talking to Agnes, I remarked "Strange things happen, do you think it is possible that I will bump into Les? What if you give me a small souvenir that I can carry and give to him if I see him." Agnes laughed, but gave me one of her long silk gloves that she had worn on her and Les' wedding day. It was wrapped so tightly it fitted into a small paypacket. I carried it everywhere along with my bible, in the top pocket of my tunic.

My posting was also to the Eigth Army in the Western Desert, but what hope had I of finding Les amongst thousands and thousands of troops! But I never gave up hope, looking at every truck, searching for his Division's sign of the Charging Rhino.

I missed Les at Alamein, he was in the North while I was in the Central Sector. And so it went on and on, at El Daba, Fuka, Mersa Matruh, Sidi Barrani, Tobruk, Corradini and Tripoli. Sometimes I only missed him by a whisker.

One day, after further setbacks, I spotted a truck with the sign of the Charging Rhino AND the Royal Signals motif. I quickly flagged it down and asked if any of the chaps had heard of signalman Bayliss. "No," they replied "but we do know a Corporal Bayliss - he's been promoted!"

An arrangement was made for me to meet Les at last. My driver came with me to take a photograph. So there, in the Middle of the Western Desert, I handed over the glove from Les' sweetheart. The photograph was sent home to Agnes as proof that I had fulfilled my promise.

Naturally Les and I were delighted to meet, we thanked the Lord for his goodness. But looking at Les, I could see that the desert had taken its toll. We all knew how fussy he was over his personal hygiene, but now he was covered in desert sores from lack of water to wash. Les told me that out of the original 24 men in his squad, only himself and two others had survived.

You can only imagine the excitement and joy the photo brought to Agnes and the family. They acted as though the two soliders in the picture had won the war. As far as Les and myself were concerned, we always believed we DID!

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