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 day’s work in the Cassino rubble
· There for your mate at the finish — Terelle, Italy

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I went in to Ginger, alone on a stretcher in a little alcove at the back of the regimental aid post. He opened his eyes as I squatted beside him. The doctor had made him comfortable; he was no longer in pain but was very, very weary. It took him seconds to blink, and the smile he greeted me with took minutes to develop. Time — and very little of that — was all there was left of this life for Ginger. He seemed to consciously squander each second with an appreciative luxury, as if it would last a hundred years.

I grinned back; there didn’t seem to be much I could say under the circumstances. Slowly, slowly, he spoke to me, with no distress or sense of urgency, enunciating each word clearly and pausing between phrases.

“It’s damn silly, Rod — the crazy bastards. Blow bloody great holes in a bloke, and then expect him to live. Can’t be done, Rod.”

There seemed no point in contradicting a statement we both knew to be true. It was a prospect that left him regretful but undismayed, so I just asked if he would like me to roll him a smoke. With great economy of effort he nodded his eyelids. I took out my tin of weed, glad of something to do, and rolled and lit a cigarette. I turned to put it to Ginger’s lips and discovered I was alone.