Risking Your Life for Eggs

Heroes Remember

Risking Your Life for Eggs

Transcript

With our armoured cars, we had these big ammunition boxes strapped to the front fenders that we put our clothes in and stuff like that. Well, we would use them or at least one of them and fill it full of straw or hay and we would get eggs from the Arabs in Sicily and the Italians in Italy. We always had eggs, most of the time. And there would come a time, one time, when we were... If we couldn't use our vehicles too much we were put back in the infantry. We took infantry work. So we were holding a line, we're here, there's a farmhouse and buildings right here and just the other side of that were the Germans, not very far. And we would go out, three or four or five men at a time and we're on night patrol. And the Germans would do the same. Sometimes we would clash and sometimes we wouldn't. This one time, and I was a sergeant then, this one time I took three other guys with me and we were out on the dark and I said to them once we got out there, I said, "Get in these bushes and stay there. I'm going to see if I can get some eggs," 'cause we were just about out of eggs. I went in this barn. You wouldn't believe the eggs that were there. Obviously, the farmer and everything had left for ages. The chickens were still there. Oh, this was great. So I found a box or something, I just forget what it was, I found something that I could put these eggs in. And I started putting these eggs up and I heard a noise. A couple of noises, you know and I'm sort of . . . it was a big old barn with lots of bits of rooms and I kind of looked through an aperture and I know there were Germans 'cause we were the only people there and they were whispering to each other and they're collecting eggs. So I never said anything and I just about got what I had come for and I put a few more in and left. As I say in the book, can you imagine risking your life to get some eggs?

Description

Mr. Tee recalls an episode where he went into a barn to collect some eggs and discovers there are Germans in the same barn.

Ronald Tee

Mr. Tee was born in Portsmouth, England, on December 1, 1919. His father served with the navy in the First World War and after retiring from the service moved his family to a small village called Pinner in Northern London. At the age of 20, Mr. Tee found himself being "called up" to the British Army. In February 1940 he joined the Queen's Royal Regiment and was posted to Newcastle. He later volunteered and joined the Reconnaissance Corp. Regiment (later part of the Royal Armoured Corps.) and became a member of the 56th Reconnaissance Battalion. He remained with this unit until the end of the war and held rank as Troop Sergeant. Mr. Tee received an honourable discharge from the service on September 11, 1946. In 1953, Mr. Tee and his family moved to Canada to start a new life. They now reside in Kingston, Ontario. Throughout his lifetime Mr. Tee has been known for his determination, courage, enterprise and his enduring motto of "Keep your chin up mate!" He has written a book sharing many stories and experiences he had as a British soldier during the Second World War.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 2:41
Person Interviewed:: Ronald Tee
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Italy
Battle/Campaign:: Italian
Branch:: Army
Units/Ship:: 56 Recee Unit (Armoured)
Rank:: Troop Sergeant
Occupation:: Armoured Car Commander

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Risking Your Life for Eggs

Heroes Remember