Sometimes we went into Ismailia, a nearby town for a change of pace,
perhaps to the open air cinema or to buy something to send home; I
remember sending packets of jordan almonds and dates back to Britain.
The war with Japan was now officially over but mopping-up would still
take some time and troopships of pink Brits were constantly passing; we
used to cheer them up by yelling, "Get yer knees brown, Pinky."
or, "Yer going the wrong way." Many of the old stagers among us
were fried to a deep brown and could easily pass for natives and some
used to swim out to the troopships and emulating the natives dive for
pennies thrown by the unsuspecting pink Brits.
The army had spent a lot of time over the years teaching us to do the
most uncivil things and now they attempted to re-humanise us; for this
purpose members of the Army Educational Corps were sent out to lecture
us on several subjects dealing mainly with the practical side of living,
buying houses, mortgages, how to deal with uncooperative neighbours, a
little applied psychology and the like; quite useful really.
With my Jewish friend I took the opportunity to go to Palestine; we
stayed in Haifa in the Hotel Mizpah on Hadar Harcarmel. We did the
rounds there and then split up for a while as he had friends in the
area, later we went on to Jerusalem staying at the YMCA. On my own I
wanted to see a bit of the city and as I was wandering around trying to
decide which way to go I was accosted by a self-appointed guide who
insisted on showing me the sights. I said, "No -- no -- NO" but I
couldn't shake him off, whichever way I turned he was there chatting
away and pointing out things that he thought I should see. Actually he
spoilt my day and when the tour was over I felt obliged to give him
something, he told me his fee and I gave him half; that didn't please
him but he might have learned that "no" means "no."
I went on to Tel Aviv where I booked in at Toc H, Talbot House; wanting
to see as much as possible I parked my belongings on my bed and off I
went into town. I don't remember too much of the place, I wasn't there
long enough. It was a lovely sunny day and the brilliant whites of the
buildings stay in my mind -- and of course the beach. Going back to my
room I discovered a letter on my bed, it was addressed to A British
soldier, somewhere In Israel and bore at its top right-hand corner what
purported to be a facsimile of an Israeli stamp though of course Israel
didn't exist at that time. The gist of the message inside was to this
effect, "If you are ordered to open fire on Jews, disobey the order."
I carried this letter around with me for ages until after I was demobbed
when I put it aside with other memorabilia and although I've hunted and
hunted it has unfortunately disappeared. After my stay in Tel Aviv I
returned to Jerusalem for a few days, looked around again, this time
without a guide and got set to go back to Haifa. This was on November
11th 1945 and there had been some Israeli terrorist bombings. The bus
company decided to go on strike but I managed to flag down a jeep and
hitch a ride all the way. Arriving at Haifa the Military Police stopped
me from returning to the Hotel Mizpah as more bombings were expected and
I was forced to put up at The Union Jack Club near the waterfront. The
accommodation was dormitory style, one floor up and my companions for
the night were all Jews, about six of them, members of the British
forces. The conversation naturally turned to the unrest in the country
and I was given a comprehensive and detailed account of Jewish history
and of their aspirations. I was told with some exaggeration of all the
famous people in the world who were Jews, some claims I knew to be true,
of others I was uncertain but I didn't argue. After three-quarters of
an hour of this one said, "we're wasting our breath, he doesn't
believe us," and the conversation turned to more innocuous subjects
before we drifted off to sleep. The next day I went along to the bus
station feeling a bit peeved to think that I was the owner of an unused
return half ticket and was prepared for a minor confrontation but to my
surprise the bus company offered me, without the slightest murmur, half
the cost of the original fare. The Military Police allowed me to go back
into my hotel to collect my belongings; I bought some Christmas cards
that had pressed flowers inside labelled Flowers from the Holy Land and
then with Louis I returned to No.2 Base Workshops.
Now that the war with Japan was over the steady homeward flow began of
those British civilians who had been their prisoners. Some were to pass
through our area. Our work was tending to wind down and thinking mainly
of the children one workshop was turned over to the manufacture of toys;
these were fairly simple ones generally in wood and although we didn't
have exactly a production line going we certainly made large quantities
and lots of wheeled ducks were painted by me.