Authors: Vivienne Dockerty
Although he was already overloaded, Eddie being a gentleman offered to carry the lady’s case and finally they compromised, by each carrying it for a spell. They must have walked miles from when they had been dropped outside the tunnel, as Bidston, where the lady lived, was quite a long way away. She invited him into her house and made him a meal, which he enjoyed with lots of cups of tea, then he said he must be on his way. He was offered a room for the night, as her mother was there as well, but Eddie was impatient to finish his journey, so he declined her offer and left.
His kit bag was heavy as he trundled along the quiet tree-lined roads, looking forward to seeing his wife and child again. In his bag lay a small box for Irene, in which lay a fine gold ring with pearls in an unusual design and a little Dutch doll he had bought for Gina, dressed in the national costume, which an old lady had made. The natural choice of name for the doll was Wilhelmina, after the name of Holland’s queen.
This leave was longer than usual as it was called embarkation leave. After three weeks and on his return to Germany, Eddie was due to go out to the Middle East. It gave him time to get to know his daughter, as at five years old, he had sadly missed Gina’s early years.
Rationing was still in place and there were many shortages in all the shops. Irene showed Eddie the pathetic piece of meat that the butcher had given her for their weekend meal. Eddie went to see the butcher personally and came back with a bigger piece than Irene had seen in a long time. He wouldn’t say what had transpired between the two of them, but he did advise her to change her supplier if she could. Things could be had on the ‘black market’, but at prices that Irene’s meagre army allotment wouldn’t run to.
Back in Germany and returning to the army, but missing the comradeship of his mates in his regiment, Eddie sent word to his Major asking if he could be recalled. A prompt reply came back, asking if he would attend for an interview. He received a warm welcome.
“Yes,” said the Major, “it is time you came back to us, but at the moment I haven’t got a vehicle for you to drive. The carrier driver will be leaving soon, so you can learn to drive that and take his place.”
Eddie found it was Charley’s vehicle and he was sorry to see the coloured boy go. He could always be relied upon to turn up with fresh supplies, when essential things like ammunition were running low, however dangerous the situation.
The non-fraternisation ruling was for the troops own protection, but Eddie, a friendly man, found it very confining. The troops were continually thrown into contact with the German people and they found, like themselves, they were only too happy that the war was over.
On his return to the regiment, Eddie was billeted in a school. There were no comforts there, but he had been in worse places and during the day he was on guard duty at a hospital for the war wounded in the town. The patients were mainly soldiers who had been in action on the Russian front. They were in a pitiful state, many suffering from frostbite in addition to their wounds.
Before Eddie had been there a week, he had introduced himself to the Matron and he struck a bargain with her. He would cut the hair of the patients and, in return for his services, he should have the privilege of a hot bath whenever he wanted. He thought himself very lucky when she gave her permission and thought he was the only man to get it.
One night he went along for a bath and he looked around very cautiously before he entered the building to make sure he wasn’t under observation. The hospital was shadowy, but there was a cheerful clink of dishes coming from the kitchen, along with the chattering of women’s voices. He made his way to the corridor where the bathrooms were. He had stuffed his own towel inside his tunic, preferring to use his own than those of the hospital. He went into a cubicle, put the plug in the bath and started to run the water.
Movement in the next cubicle told him that someone else was there, but Eddie assumed it was probably a patient or a member of staff. He turned off the hot water after running a nice tub full, then cooled it down until it was just right. Then he got in and lay there, revelling in the luxury, relaxed and even dozing a little in the unaccustomed warmth.
A voice started to sing next door and made Eddie sit up sharply to listen. It was a deep, expressive voice and it was singing about the mountains of Mourne. Not in anyway a German voice, as the song demanded to know “did his mother come from Ireland?” Eddie thought it was time he got dressed and out of there, but before he left the cubicle, he lifted a chair into place, stood on it and looked over the wooden partition. A familiar figure was sitting in the bath, all soaped up and thoroughly enjoying himself. It was Eddie’s own Sergeant Major!
Eddie had great difficulty in trying to control a fit of laughter, so he got down from the chair and made his way out as quietly as possible. There was still no one about as he passed through the outer door.
When he returned to his billet there was a light in the kitchen, which told him that his friend the cook was still there. He went for a chat and a cup of cocoa, but didn’t recount that evening’s encounter at the hospital, as he deemed it would be unfair. He went from the kitchen to the bedroom as he had a letter to write home. The censorship had relaxed since the war had ended and there was so much for Eddie to write home about. The girl at the reception in the hospital had offered a room where he could write in peace, but Eddie declined her offer, as well intentioned as it might have been. To get a bath was a necessity, but to break the rules of fraternisation for the sake of a letter was another thing.
Before the regiment left Germany for the Middle East, they organised a race for the occupation troops. Eddie was selected to run for his unit, the officer who chose him saying that as he was an infantryman he must be fit. Eddie had no pre-race training and as he had always been a good runner he had no worries on that score.
An ex-commando turned up to run in the race, coming along with the intention to win it. He said to Eddie when they had the opportunity to talk, “If you want to get a place in this race, then stick with me.”
Eddie thought that the man sounded a trifle big-headed, but he spoke with such conviction, that he was impressed in spite of it, thinking that the man would probably win it anyway. He watched his tactics closely and noted that the commando ate very little, spent a lot of time on the toilet and exercised. He did seem to be an old hand at the racing game, so Eddie, thinking that his advice was logical, tried to do the same.
At that time, Eddie was undeniably fit, as the time he had spent in training for the Normandy landings and the fighting that soon came after, had brought him to his peak. There was not an ounce of superfluous fat on his body.
The day came and the crowd gathered to watch the race, with those taking part in good spirits. They were jumping around, laughing and joking with each other, then the starter’s gun cracked and the race was on.
Eddie got off to a good start, keeping to the commando’s heels as he had advised him to. He kept up this position for some time and found that they were well ahead of the rest. Both of the men kept up their speed, then put on an extra spurt to get them past the winning post. The time registered was four minutes and twenty four seconds for the mile, a record at that time.
Years later, a young man named Roger Bannister was to run the first four minute mile, however the two men were pleased with themselves that day.
The men had been told that the full Battalion would be going out to Egypt and Palestine and other regiments would be taking over the occupational duties. Liberty ships were sent to take them on their journey up the Mediterranean.
The first port they docked at was Port Said. Eddie had often heard of it, but never dreamed that one day he would be actually there. The Egyptians came out in small boats to trade with the soldiers as soon as the ships dropped anchor; they were piled high with fruit and bottled drinks. The traders threw ropes up to the ships and, when these had been secured, baskets of fruit and bottled drinks were attached to them. Eddie bought a bottle, but was not impressed, thinking it tasted like warm pop.
When the ships were finally docked, the soldiers disembarked and formed lines on the quayside whilst they waited for further orders. They were then marched to a transit camp where there were a number of tents and marquees erected for them. Here they were given meals and the opportunity to rest and wash before moving on to the railway station.
A train pulling a number of cattle trucks was waiting for them and the soldiers made themselves comfortable on bales of straw. The Egyptian traders were climbing all over the train as it pulled slowly out of the station.
One vendor had a tray of rings and Eddie noticed a pretty ring with a blue stone in it. It was small, so he thought he would buy it as a gift for Gina. He indicated to the youth that he wanted to buy it, but after taking Eddie’s money, the youth pressed a worthless washer into his hand and dropped off the train.
“Get your knees brown, Johnny,” he laughed mockingly as he went.
He got a shock as Eddie dropped off the train after him and was punched in the face and the tray of rings snatched off him. Eddie threw the box to the soldiers on the train and just had time to grab the handle on the guards van, as the train puffed along on its way.
Once he was safely on the train, he looked back and saw the youth being grabbed by a large Egyptian in a fez and carrying a whip. Eddie thought he might be the local bobby.
Their destination was a place called Ismailia and when they arrived there they were marched to a camp outside the town. Here were more tents for them, but this time there were also some Nissen huts, which gave the place more of an air of permanency.
Eddie was picked for a special squad of twenty ‘hardened troops’ who were driven to Haifa, where they were dropped off at a camp that overlooked the sea. After a while they were marched down to the quayside to where a refugee ship was moored. Only the sick on board were allowed to land and the soldiers escorted them to an Israeli camp. The rest of the people had to stay on board and sailed on the next tide. Eddie didn’t get to know why this was before they were driven back to Ismailia.
There had been an influx of immigrants from the ghettos of Europe at this time. They all hoped for a new life in the future state of Israel. Life on those ships was appalling, conditions that the passengers had to live under were terrible and, even if they managed to reach Palestine safely, these pathetic people could be turned back and not even be allowed to set foot in the Holy Land. There were limitations on the number of people accepted, though pregnant women and their husbands had the best chance of being allowed. There had been a lot of unrest and sabotage, with the King David hotel being blown up.
Detail at the camp involved driving duties for Eddie. At first he picked up rations for the company, became a substitute driver for the C.O. and did a lot of trips to Cairo. He never did any guard duty and spent his free time swimming and sunbathing at the local Lido. The constant sunshine worked wonders on veterans like Eddie, who had fought the war in cold, muddy conditions.
His favourite job was to drive parties of soldiers on sightseeing tours. They went to places that were names in the Bible to the average man. He made constant trips to Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth and Galilee. They saw the Garden of Gethsemane, the Mount of Olives and many other famous names.
One sightseeing tour left its mark on Eddie. It was when he took a party of soldiers to see the Pyramids and the Sphinx outside Cairo. There was a leakage of brake fluid, which hadn’t been noticed when the lorry was made ready for the trip. It wasn’t noticed until Eddie was driving down a hilly road that led to the ancient monuments. He put on the brakes to hold the lorry on the steep hill and found that there were no brakes to hold it. He had to resort to desperate measures and warned his passengers to drop off the vehicle when they could, as he was going to try and slow it down through the gears. As this did not stop the headlong flight down the road, he pressed the horn to warn pedestrians that the lorry was out of control. It blared all the way down the hill with the soldiers dropping off like flies. Miraculously Eddie avoided injuring anyone, as the Egyptians scattered for safety as they became aware of the lorry in its headlong rush.
“Jump off with the others,” he had said to the officer accompanying him on the trip. Had he jumped then he would have jumped to comparative safety, but he hung on grim-faced, gripping the passenger seat with his hands. They came to a stop when the vehicle hit rough ground around the Pyramids, much to everyone’s relief!
As luck would have it there was a second lorry waiting and word was sent back to the depot about the incident. Eddie finished the day in ignominious fashion, being towed through Cairo, a frightening experience in such a busy city. He was without a vehicle for a week and missed his trips out very much.
The men found that fruit was abundant there and it made a welcome addition to army rations. Eddie enjoyed eating dates, which he bought in large chunks from the fruit seller. The soldiers would buy dates and take them in with them to eat, whilst they watched film shows in the camp.
“The very best dates were put on the stones which marked the graves in the local cemetery,” Eddie said to a friend when he got back home to England.
“How do you know that?”she had asked. Eddie left her guessing.
One of the new sergeants fell in love with a pretty girl that he met on the beach. She was a French girl and very friendly to him. Starved as they had been of female company, the soldiers found that the Europeans they met in Cairo were very pleasant. They had all been warned to treat the Egyptian women with respect and not to make friends with any of the young ones.
“Isn’t she a smasher,” said young Lennie eagerly to Eddie. He agreed with the man, she was really quite sensational with a lovely figure and lovely legs. Something tugged at Eddie’s memory though, as he felt he had seen her before. He listened while Lennie told him that he had written to his parents to tell them that he was going to be married, although he was already committed to a young lady back home and did not know how to break the bad news to her.