大象传媒

From his Autobiography of a One Eyed Conscript
By G J Turner

I lost an eye in 1939, then I received an O.H.M.S. inviting me to go for a Medical. ;You are fit to go into the Army as a Medical Orderly;. We went by train to Leeds. There was no one to meet us until "take your hands out of your pockets and stand up straight, you are in the Army now and I am your Sargent, like it or not." January 18, 1940 we were transported to Gainford, County Durham where we formed the 137 and the 185 Field Ambulances. The 137 went to Norway.
We the 185 went down to Southwell in Nottinghamshire where I received a smashed right elbow doing a somersault over two six footers which turned into a dive, then whilst playing football I received a hernia, so because of those two accidents it meant that I could no longer carry stretchers, so I was transferred to a Casualty Clearing Station. A C.C.S. Eventually we moved to Scotland and went for some manoeuvres on different lochs and on the 8th of October 1942 we were kitted out for another one when we arrived at Greenock Morton, we were told, 鈥淲ould you like to go for a cruise on that big ship?鈥� We had no option, it was a troop ship, The Sobieski. I was sick all the way to the Bay of Biscoy where I was twice sick but on entering the Med I soon recovered my appetite for food.
The ship;s tannoy system crackled, ;this is the Staff Captain speaking to all Company Commanders, you may open your sealed envelopes now;. ;we are going to land in Algeria; said our leader Major Portious. ;"Who is the General in Charge;" I asked. We had heard of Monty and hoped it would be him. ;Some one you dont know, it is General Eisenhower. A hospital was not ready for us so we took over the football stadium. We slept on the concrete steps but before we went to sleep we nipped to the wine shop. Im having champagne; said one. Whats that like? I asked. Oh I'll have a bottle if it's only fizzy pop. It was only one shilling and sixpence. British Army money. I enjoyed it but was sick in the night. I picked up what I thought was my helmet and filled. Next morning I was going to the ablutions with my kit and helmet upside down, I dare not look at it when I heard a voice bellowing "WHO IS THE GENTLEMAN WHO HAS BEEN SICK IN MY HELMET?" Or perhaps it was something a bit stronger than that. I'm afraid I did not own up to it then but I am doing so now albeit 62 years later. I was on guard duty Christmas Day and Christmas dinner was three small tinned potatoes, a few peas, a small Machonnace steak and kidney pudding, half a tinned pear with some Carnation milk. We moved to a place called Souk Ahrass to a small one ward hospital. I was put on the night shift, it was the first time I had ever worked on the wards. We did a month on nights and a month on days. On one of the nights an ammunition train was sabotaged. There were four of us looking after the patients, I was the rookie the other three were skilled male nurses, they looked after one side of the ward and I the other side. Actually I'm not sure if those three Geordie nurses weren't Siamese triplets. The night the ammunition went up I decided to move the beds and stretchers away from the windows, there were no windows on the other side of the ward. The patients on that side were shouting for bedpans and bottles. I thought there are the nurses on that side, what are they doing?
The patients, being soldiers were explicit in saying what would happen if they did not get a bedpan or a bottle, so I went to the annex where the articles were kept. There was a massive table in the annex which was lined with a thick sheet of aluminium, as was the bottom of the shelf where the bedpans and bottles were kept. I put my hurricane lamp on the floor and felt on the bottom of the shelf. There were no bedpans or bottles. I pondered. Then a voice said "Theyer on top".I got down on my knees and picked up the hurricane lamp and shone it under the table and those three nurses were on their hands and knees cowering. They had deserted their post, which was to care for patients regardless of their own safety. Next morning after the shelling had stopped I moved the beds and stretchers back into their rightful positions. I had only two stretchers with patients on to move back, when I heard a voice behind me saying, "Is everything alright?" I turned to my right, it was the Padre. A voice behind me said "Yes Sir everything is alright, we moved the beds and stretchers away from the windows so they would not get cut with broken glass" I had not heard the Lance Corporal run down the ward in his pumps. Those three should have been court martialled but if I had reported them, they would have said it was me who was cowering under the table. We went through Algeria, then Tunisia and met up with the 8th Army. Between us, the First Army, the American Fifth Army and the Eighth Army had smashed the German African Army and had taken them out of the war, making it easier for future landings in France. Our next landing was to be made at Salerno, Italy and owing to a mix up we were landed on the wrong beach, 10 miles from our map reference point. Owing to obstacles in the way, such as Germans, Tiger Tanks and Artillery and a minefield it took us two days to get to our map reference point.
When we arrived, two men were wanted immediately to go down to the beach to await the arrival of the Hospital Supply Ship which could not come in as the Germans were shelling the sea to stop any more troops from landing. We fell into three ranks. The R.S.M. made a speech. "Right it is dangerous down there, I want two volunteers" As there were no volunteers, he said "Come on, two friends, you can hold hands if you wish" As the R.S.M. approached where I was I said, "Can I have a word Sir?" "Yes what is it?" "Can I fall out Sir?" "Yes, fall out George" Fall out George? Did he know what I was going to say? I walked thirty yards or so away from the company. "Yes what is it George?" "I will go down to the beach Sir as long as I can go on my own, I don't want any of these bastards with me" "Right George I will go and see the Colonel and if he agrees you can go" The R.S.M. came back ten minutes later and said, "It would be okay"
I went down to the beach with rations, a Primus stove and a few Reader's Digests, which I had read many times before. The two who were down there said, "You on your own?" I said "Yes, I prefer it that way" "We'll leave that box for you to sit on and we will leave the trench for you as well" "Thanks" I said "But you can take the trench with you" "Cheerio"; they said, I replied Good luck as they left. I surveyed the situation, the hills of Salerno were behind me and the sea and the Armada in front of me. Some of the ships were belching smoke. I hoped they were sending up a smoke screen and had not been hit by a shell. The first shift was not a long one and as the daylight was fading so did the shelling and I prepared to meet the pick up truck. When I arrived at the campsite I went to the cookhouse for something to eat and then went to my bivvy to sleep.
I continued going down to the beach each morning and each evening. I did not count the days but as the battle for Salerno lasted 9 days and I was a day and a half I must have been seven and a half days on that job. On what turned out to be the last day, a shell screamed very low over my head. That startled me and I turned my head to the left to see where it had landed. It had hit a piece of artillery and the men manning it did not stand a chance. At the same time I heard a rattling commotion coming from my trench. I though it could be U.X.B. (an unexploded bomb) I turned my head to look at my trench and to my surprise two American G.I.s had jumped into my trench. In the best soldier language I asked them what they were doing in my trench. "We thought we woz gonnas that time buddy" In the strongest of language I denied being their buddy "Are you de deserters or spies?" "Neither we have a home posting because of our age" Just then I spotted an M.P. patrolling the shoreline. I whistled and shouted and waving, knowing that he could not hear me above the noise of the battle. He turned his head slightly and jerked his head round as he spotted me waving. I asked the Yanks if they would like a cup of tea. "Aint you got no corfee?" I said no I'm a Brit, we don't drink coffee. "What's wrong?" asked the M.P. I told him about the Yanks and asked him to take them away and interrogate them and let me know the result. He came back three or four hours later and said they were genuine and also we have heard on the grapevine, the Germans were pulling out. I did not know it then but later on that shell that flew so low over my head was dropped by a plane and was the very first Rocket Propulsion Missile. I had seen History in the making. When the shells stopped the Hospital Supply came as close as possible and powerboats brought the supplies we needed, I loaded up a lorry and my stint was over on the beach. Our officers were all doctors and not one of them said thank you to me. I was disappointed.

Things quitened down at Salerno, the Germans had retreated and we were needed at Anzio, talk about no rest for! The Germans had surrounded Anzio and we could not get there by land so we had to go by sea in a Landing Craft, it is not far, don't ask me I don't know how many kilos there are in a pint. We waded ashore and I spotted an upside down jeep and investigated it. Walking round I saw an open doorway and peering in the gloom I saw that it was a dugout. I dumped my kit down and felt for the cannister which housed my small hurricane lamp and lit it and went into the dugout. The walls were lined with tonge and grooved timber, rescued no doubt from the bombed houses. The floor was lined with timber. "This is mine, " I said. As I would be working on days and nights, I needed to share with someone on regular days. My best mate George Wood was on days all the time, Vic Chadwick was another mate on days, he was a dental technician. I found Vic and showed him my dugout. "Would you like to share it with me Vic?" "Yes please" said Vic," that will be handy for my pin ups". "What sort of pinnups?" I asked. "The films", said Vic. "Like Rin Tin Tin and Shirley Temple?". "No, women film stars", said Vic. That was an eye opener to me and something new. As you look in the dugout my bed was on the rightb and Vic's on the left. A soldier's bed is a ground sheet on the floor and a blanket to lie on and a blanket to cover up with the kitbag for a pillow and we slept with our trousers on.

One night when Vic and I were reading with the hurricane lamp a screech hit the lamp and fell to the floor between Vic and me, I said "Don't touch it Vic it might be shrapnel and it might be hot". I got a piece of cardboard and turned it over. It had legs. I scraped it up with the cardboard and threw it outside. It was a giant of a beetle. One sunday morning I was turning every which way to try and get rid of a pain and every which way I turned seemed to make the pain worse. I went to see the R.S.M. and told him that I would not be going on the Church parade. "Right" said the Sergeant Major, "Get a knife and peel some potatoes." "Not likely" I said "I'm going sick". I reported to the M.O. and told him about the pain. He could not understand it and sent for a Major", who had some experience of tropical diseases. "You are lucky George" the Major said to me, "You have got Malaria, you will be in hospital for 3 weeks and you will be on Quinine and a coarse of tablets". "What's Quinine like?" I asked. "Like a fine wine", said the Major. Tongue in cheek. I found out that he was joking. It is the vilest drink every, 150 times worse than vinegar. I bravely took all of the coarse and the Malaria recurred twice more whilst I was in Italy but I have never been troubled with it since.

After our first shift on night duty, we little Tommy Hutton 5 feet nothing and 6 stone nothing, he would not take up much room and me went to the stores for our bivouac from the stores and pitched it in a gulley just off the road, the bivvy when erected was lower than the road, although most of the shelling had stopped, there was still some spasmodic shelling and in our low position we would not catch any shrapnel. So we bedded down. The bed being one ground sheet each and one blanket to lie on and one to cover up with and the kitbag filled with clothing for a pillow and went to sleep, after taking off our boots and helmets. But, not for long did we sleep. The sound of aeroplanes and gun fire woke us up. I looked for Tommy he was near to the tent flap and crouched so small that his helmet almost covered his body. He was shuffling round and round slowly. I stifled a laugh, "all right Tom?", I asked. His answer was unprintable. The A.A. Gunners were caught on the hop, for the planes had come in from the sea. The next day the Anti-Aercraft Gunners were ready for the planes, they had come and gone so quickly. On the third day someone suggested to aim the Anti-Aercraft guns facing the hills of Salerno. They did and shot down 3 Messersmitts and then one by one or 2 by 2 until they had shot down 10 and the last 2 of the squadron did not come back. Another defeat for the nasties.
After our long hours at Salerno and Anzio (ie 20 hour days and twenty hour nights, overlapping each other's shift) we were sent to a small street hamlet in the Southern Hills. We made a few friends and one morning when we awoke the street was in 2 inches of dust. Vesuvius had erupted, it was 1944. A few mornings leter we were on our way without saying good bye to our friends. The war in Italy by now and we did a mini tour and eventually arrived at Genoa where we took over a mental hospital. I was asked to take over the cookhouse, dining room and the marina. I was not given any stripes or any extra money. I was provided with 3 Italian Chef and a 40 year old male pot washer. Our cook Sergeant had been burnt to death in a kitchen fire. I relished the job and had my own bedroom. I got on well with the 4 Italians, until one day I had a brainwave. We left Scotland on the 15th of October 1942 and it was 1945 and we had forgotten what fish and chips tasted like. I said to my chefs after dinner. "Fish and chipe for tea". "Come vish e chips". I fetched a haddock from the stores and chopped its head off and filleted it and peeled a potatoe and cut it into chips and made some batter and told them how to fry the fish and chips. They had a little conference and said "no" I said Fa bene (ok) arriverderci" (good-bye) "Come Giogio arriverderci?" I told them if they did not do fish and chips they were sacked. (I cannot remember the Italian language I learned 60 years ago.

The three chefs went into another huddle and decided to cook the fish and chips. There was a resounding roar when the tea timers came into the dining hall and 3 cheers. The ones who had gone out and missed the fish and chips were a bit miffed. The 40 year old pot washer asked if I could find work for his daughter who had just left school, she was short and stocky, I told her she would be responsible for the marina and my bedroom. She was a good worker and one day her father asked me if his daughter could stay for the dance and would I escort her home. (I agreed to and when I thought it was time I fetched her off the dance floor. I do not dance for obvious reasons. When we got outside I asked her where she lived. "Su la" (up there) she pointed to a mountain. Oh dear! We chatted on the winding way up this path. Then suddenly she stopped and with a curved hand said "Mia casa". My house and shoved me backwards into a rock, she was thrusting her firm young body into mine (I think she was nearer my belly button than I was) "Fare amori, fari amori" ("make love, make love) When I got my breath back I said "Quanti anni avete?" "How old are you?" "Quattordieci" (fourteen) "Troppo giovani" (too young, Buono notte vedere domani". "Goodnight I will see you tomorrow." Next morning, Sunday. She came up to me and said "Giorgio ho finito?" ("Have I finished?") "No" I said "Cominciare lavoro" ("start work"). I was in the hospital yard one day when one of the storekeepers asked me if I had a minute. "Yes Tom" I answered. "Hold your hand out" said Tom. I did and he thrust a one thousand lira note into my hand. "This is yours" said Tom. "It isn't" I said I did not have a thousand lira note I send my money home, it would be dishonest for me to keep it". "Well it's like this" said Tom, we have sold a 7 pound tin of coffee and that is your share" I went straight to a bin and tore the note into confetti. Then I went and washed my hands.

Now I had a problem, the store men were selling on the Black Market, if they had given it to the Hospital or the like I would not have worried. We had come through 3 major battles, North Africam Salerno and Anzio. I had a troubled sleep that night, then suddenly the answer was clear. I went to sleep and awoke refreshed. As soon as I could I made an appointment to see the Company Officer, Major Portious, the word got round and the store people would fear the worst. "Yes George why do you want to see me?" "Well Sir, as you know I am working with diesel and in 1929 when I was 10 years old I had double pneumonia and I was in a coma for 5 days and now I am doing a lot of coughing at night and I would like to be relieved of my present position". "Are you having any problems with anyone?". "No Sir". "Right ho leave it with me". "Thank you Sir". In a couple of weeks a Staff Sergeant and 3 chefs arrived to take over my position. The 3 Italian chefs had to go but they kept the pot washer and his daughter on. "George" "Yes Dick", there was a question mark in my voice". You like a drink, don't you George?" "Yers" another question mark in my voice. "I've had a letter from home (my mental arithmatic was working overtime, I guessed what was coming, we left Scotland on the 15th of October 1942 and now it was 1944. "My wife's had a baby. I know it isn't mine, it's my brother's". "Oh dear" I thought. "Can you take me for a drink? I'm not a drinker but I want to get drunk". "OK Dick" I said "Meet me at the Guard House at 7 o'clock". We walked the 2 miles into Genoa and went into a wine bar. "I'll pay for the drinks" said Dick. I think the drinks I fetched were Marsalla or something like that.