大象传媒

When my brother George went into the army in 1942 he was a trained butcher but he was given the job of driving instructor since there were very few able to drive at that time. After a spell with the RASC he was attached to the RAMC and posted to the south of England. Little did my parents know that shortly afterwards he was driving an ambulance and bringing back the wounded from across the Channel during the D Day landings. He continued to drive ambulances throughout the battles on the Continent, taking casualties from the front line to the Field Hospitals. It was a while before he told the family that he had been mentioned in Dispatches and was awarded an Oak Leaf.

He did tell us a rather amusing story about a cow which was mooing pitifully in a French field. It was in agony because it had been abandoned and needed milking. George was the only country bumpkin capable of helping the cow, so he fed the animal with scraps from the hospital kitchen and in return provided the patients with fresh milk.

As the field hospital moved on, this cow went with them for quite a while: she would happily climb into one of the big trucks and be transported with the rest of the equipment. The whole war experience was very traumatic to see these young soldiers as they saw friends killed as they went about their ambulance duties, not to mention the mutilation of the patients.

It was the last straw when George鈥檚 regiment entered Belson to help release the prisoners and actually see the situation in which these human beings had lived and died. After tending to those that were still living, some of the soldiers were given home leave. I can remember how ill my brother was. Our family doctor ordered complete rest and an extension to George鈥檚 leave, as he was physically and mentally exhausted.

He returned for duty on the continent until VE Day then was sent to the Middle East and was actually a sergeant butcher for the rest of his time in the forces. We had snatches of his horrific experiences but like many other ex-servicemen, George did not tell us the whole story.

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