Soldier's Tales

SOLDIERS’ TALES

Edited by Denny Neave

Big Sky Publishing, 2008, 182pp

Denny Neave has collated an interesting collection of tales.

They include darkly humorous stories (Ron Cashman’s story of his Polish officer in Korea, challenging 200 Chinese soldiers to ‘come up and fight’ his 16 men, David Sabben’s painful encounter between a scorpion and a delicate part of his anatomy in Vietnam, and Gordon Traill’s description of the Baghdad Golfer).  One can only imagine the probable reaction of ‘Red Robbie’ (assuming that he was the GOC BCOF involved) at his elderly Japanese lady ‘door opener’ bowing and saying solemnly ‘Oh, my bloody back’ to his visitors, as related by Alec Weaver!

There is interesting factual information (Ken Wright’s account of the Dead Man’s Penny, related against the background of Private Robert Bruce, 46th Battalion, who died of war related injuries on 21 November 1918, and whose grave in Will Will Rook cemetery has been lost), and poignant items, such as the two poems by Bede Tongs, MM, and Lance Campbell’s story of his uncle, Driver Malcolm Campbell, 8th Division, a prisoner at Sandakan, who died of illness on 3 June 1945, and has no known grave.  There is also Col Stringer’s inspirational story of chaplain William (Fighting Mac) McKenzie of the First AIF, now hardly remembered, but to whom some recognition may be restored by this tale.

The book is well illustrated, generally with photos and artwork that are not ‘well known’, adding to its interest.

JOHN DONOVAN