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enemy trucks and motorcycles ahead, appearing and reappearing through the alleys of the little port of Sollum. We could see Italian artillery high above on top of the escarpment but when we had a go at the trucks, the guns started on us so we had to get away pretty sharply.
    Montagu Douglas Scott was a strange chap. He never missed a thing. In the middle of all this, he told us how impressed he was with the way Italians built their desert roads. He pulled us through that one and we were mightily relieved when darkness fell and we slipped back into the desert to leaguer up for the night.
    I wasn’t impressed with the trappings of military rank but I knew I could do the job better than some of the regulars. I had already seen one chap I didn’t really rate make it to captain. It was dead men’s shoes in those days but the ordinary lads didn’t get a look in. It wasn’t right. I had been made an acting corporal on merit on account of my shooting, and that was how it should be.
    By then Platoon Sergeant-Major Endean was proving to be the bane of my life. He didn’t have much time for recruits like us. He was a regular and he treated us as if we’d walked straight off civvy street. Some of us had, but there was a lot of prejudice in those days. People like the PSM didn’t see people’s strengths.
    We got the order to move forward under cover of darkness one night and as I was in charge I sat alongside the driver in the truck with six lads in the back as we picked our way through the rough desert. He was steering around a field of rocks, peering into the night to avoid the worst, and following the vehicle in front when there was an unforgiving thud below and we stopped. I climbed out and looked underneath to find we’d hammered the sump. We weren’t going anywhere for a while.
    We were pretty vulnerable out there without any cover but the company left us to defend ourselves and carried on.
    I arranged a guard so we could rest. In the morning I ordered the lads to break open the emergency tea rations so they could have a brew and thaw out. With the benefit of daylight and a bit of warmth we got the vehicle running again but before we got very far I heard the menacing sound of planes overhead. A handful of Savoias swooped low. There was no anti-aircraft cover, so we were on our own. I managed to get hold of a tommy gun that I had been entrusted with and I let loose most of a magazine. Even at that range it had no effect. It was a clumsy thing. We hit the deck but the bombs exploded well away from us. After one pass the sky was clear and I breathed a little easier. They had better targets that day.
    We got moving again and eventually reached the company and safety in numbers. I tracked down PSM Endean immediately and asked permission to replace the emergency tea ration from the stores. It should have been a formality. The lads had been cold and stuck out in the desert and they had needed warmth. It was my decision and it was the right one. Endean refused.
    He took it as a breach of regulations and he was aggressive from the start. I was hot-headed at the best of times but I wouldn’t stand for pettiness. I wasn’t having any of it. He was keeping his distance and had placed himself behind some camouflage netting. He knew I might take a swing at him, officer or not. I was furious but I told him his parents should have married and left it at that. I had given an order in the interest of the men. For God’s sake it was a mug of tea, not a feast.
    I knew he would get back at me and it didn’t take him long. We were always anticipating a dawn attack so we deployed early. I had been suffering from dysentery for days but I struggled to get up and arranged the guard as usual. I was in a terrible state so I collapsed back on my bedroll in pain. I was sitting down when Endean showed up. He accused me of slacking and I was put on a charge straight away. I had obeyed orders and the guard was in place but it made no difference. Ill