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We disembarked at Port Tewfik and set foot on Egyptian soil and were transported to a make shift camp not far from the pyramids. We bedded down on the desert floor with only a waterproof coat and our greatcoats to keep out the cold desert air.

We awoke to find we had many black beetles helping keep us company. We loathed our situation but could do nothing. After all we were in the Royal Artillery.

Eventually I got accustomed to the trials and tribulations of existing in North Africa in a desert which took no prisoners. On a routine medical inspection I was shocked to find I needed a hernia operation. This meant leaving my friends and company whom I never saw again. After the operation I was confined to bed for four weeks not being allowed up. The experience was awful; the heat, the flies and the terrible smells from fellow soldiers lying with open wounds and in terrible pain.

In hospital I tended to get nightmares of my 3 month troopship journey from Glasgow and Port Tewfik. It was at the height of the U boat attacks and for the first 3 weeks we were not allowed to take our clothes off so that we might survive a few extra minutes in the water if were sank. My reoccurring nightmares concerned the day which dawned and found the huge convoy had gone and we were alone. The engines had broken down and we were a sitting duck. Fortunately the engineers repaired the faults and we rejoined the convoy 20 hours later to sighs of relief all round.

I’m leaving hospital I was sent to a convalescent camp about an hour from Alexandria. The camp held 2-3000 men from all over the British Empire. I was put in charge of the camp office and had a large tent to myself. It was far from a pleasant thing being on the edge of the camp, close to the Egyptian villages and I had to rig up all kinds of tin can alarms to give warning against intruders.

I spent 3 weeks in this camp and daily swimming helped me regain my strength. I was then sent to a holding camp located on the West side of the Suez Canal, it was a terrible place with frequent sand storms. The canal was about 5 miles away and I frequently walked to it in lovely silence.

From a distance the view was covered with ships apparently sailing through sand. It was only on reaching the edge that the water appeared. It was fascinating watching the ships including the occasional troopship heading for home.

Some weeks later I was on my way sailing from Port Said. There were no bunks in my section only hammocks which took some getting used to, especially for soldiers with some limb wounds who needed help to get in and out.

The passage was fairly smooth except for sailing through wreckage of sunken ships. It was a spine chilling experience. I had often wondered why I was being sent home but within a few days of arrival in England I was told that my hernia operation had failed again and I had to be done again. At least the operation was done in a British hospital with British nurses and edible food. What a treat! Later I was sent to the countryside for 3 weeks convalescence.

I had been married only 2 weeks before being sent overseas so I had the wonderful experience of seeing my wife again after two years absence. Her devotion and love kept me going through difficult and challenging times and indeed has been my motivation through nearly 63 years of married life.

Fit again a new chapter began, but that is a story for another time…….

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