BY ROGER SMITH
Extracts from the book:
·
Flies and worse in the Western Desert
·
A peculiar addiction to Irish lyrics
·
Burying the dead Tebaga Gap
·
British Army at a minefield near Sfax,
Tunisia
·
The countryside near Sousse, Tunisia
·
The Padre's tools of trade
·
A minefield near Takrouna, Tunisia
·
Kelly in Cairo
·
Housekeeping in a two-man bivvy in the
rain Sangro, Italy
·
Falling asleep on duty Sangro
·
Kelly dies at
the Sangro River
·
Civilians caught in the frontline
Castel Frantano, Italy
·
Getting sadness off your chest
·
Giant drunken zooming fireflies
Alife, Italy
·
Christmas 1943
back from the front
·
Maori Battalion,
Trocchio, Italy
·
Fear, and fear of fear Cassino,
Italy
·
A break from Cassino
·
All in a days work in the Cassino
rubble
·
There for your
mate at the finish Terelle, Italy
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GETTING SADNESS OFF YOUR CHEST |
There was much sadness you could get off your chest when eating a quiet meal with
mutual friends, saying things to each other that would begin: He was a good bloke.
Remember that time...
GIANT DRUNKEN ZOOMING
FIREFLIES, ALIFE, ITALY |
Most of us made little braziers out of jam tins to warm our bivvies on cold nights. The
traditional method of getting them going was to start with a bit of paper and some sticks,
fill them up with coal or charcoal and then swing them round and round your head at
arms-length to create a draught. It was a curious sight, if you gazed down on the camp at
dusk from a higher level, to see all the whirling blobs of flame among the olives, like
dozens of giant drunken fireflies zooming madly in tethered circles.
CHRISTMAS 1943 - BACK FROM THE
FRONT |
We sang ourselves hoarse then talked and talked, all ranks forgotten in an atmosphere
of complete comradeship. We discussed our pre-war lives and our ambitions for the future,
our wives and sweethearts and families, our troubles, our fears, our happiness and hopes,
all with a glorious frank sympathy that held no hint of mockery. We talked of politics and
war, and of the army, of motor cars and state hydro schemes, of kitchen stoves and films
and radio, of cows and sheep and fishing, and of horse racing and rugby.
When men meet again and look back down the years with a haunting, reluctant nostalgia for
war, it is these times they remember with regret. |
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