Friendly Fire

What I was with was infantry support. You had your infantry and then... It was a large company that I was with. They had three companies of machine guns and they had one large company then of the 4.2 mortars and that’s the company I was with. I’m working away there and I looked up, oh yeah there they come and all of a sudden somebody hollered, they’re bombing, they’re dropping bombs! They were supposed to start at the railway and bomb forward and nobody pointed out to them that here is two railways a mile and a half apart and we’re sitting in between them. The front line is up there and because I’m with the headquarters and the mechanic I’m back here, you see. I looked up, oh they’re our planes and all of a sudden you saw the bombs start coming out of them. I hit for the slit trench. I never quite made it. I got shrapnel right here in the arm and I got knocked out. When I walked out of there I didn’t even have my tunic with me or anything because I figured I’ll just go up to the.... I had no idea what hit me or where it was or, I knew where it was but how serious it was or anything. I thought I’ll just go up to the first aid station, you know, and they can put a bandage on and I’ll be okay. First thing I knew I’m over to the beach and I then on a boat and back to London and I wanted to go back again after I got out of the hospital. I was in there for over a month. Oh no, you’ve been in there once, you can go down and work in this workshop here so, one it was just like a jail, you know. They brought your meals down to you and everything. After being on my own, on my own and all of a sudden I’m in this absolutely controlled place, even to when you eat and where you eat. It was just so unreal, that I couldn’t, I couldn’t be happy around there at all.