To War With The Bays: 76 – What Would We Do?
...One evening Sid and I went for a walk and talked about what we'd do when the war was over. It wasn't over yet. The Japanese were still fighting, but the end seemed inevitable. What would we do? After all these years living outside, all the time on the move - could we ever settle down to a normal life again?...
Jack Merewood, still serving in the Army in Italy though the fighting in Europe has ended, begins to think of life after combat.
This northern part of Italy was like a different country compared to the south, and the people were quite different too, with fairer skins. They were well dressed and well fed, and inclined to look down on the people of the south. They would sometimes correct us when we spoke the language we'd picked up, pointing out that we spoke with a 'coarse' accent.
When I arrived, the cricket season was well under way which I enjoyed, and it wasn't long before I was asked to be 'sports editor' for the squadron magazine. I made up a cricket scorebook and scored for the squadron. Colin was nominated an umpire.
Sitting there scoring, reporting, drinking lemonade and eating sandwiches in the hot sun - it was a great life. 'Picked figs and apples and yellow plums, can't grumble at the life here — little work, plenty pleasure.'
There was a lovely little island called Grado off the coast just south of Gradisca, and Harold and I had a 48-hour pass to go there. We stayed in a very clean room in a 10th Indian Division hotel, the Eva. 'Grado quiet place, walked along front and had tea and cakes in canteen. To open air dancing in evening and then to open air cinema.' Next morning: 'On beach and in sea. Been a lovely couple of days.'
The tanks were here, but what a relief not to have to sleep in them, and better still not to fight in them. We had to keep them clean, which was almost a pleasure, for we didn't go anywhere in them - no driving or firing of guns. Guard duty came round regularly, but this only amounted to walking around the area and keeping an eye on the tanks. Things were very quiet, the people well behaved, and the last thing we'd have expected was for them to try to steal a tank!
Most of the time the weather was hot and it was only a short walk to the Isonzo where we spent hours swimming. It was a very wide river, but at present no more than a series of channels with islands of white pebbles between them. In places there were deep pools, and one we liked in particular had big rocks at the side of it from which we could dive into the cool crystal-clear water. The walk to the river was through fields where rows of tomatoes grew.
'Came out hot - really hot, hottest day I've experienced since I came back. Phew! it's stifling. Spent all afternoon in pool. Went down to river again in evening and Sid and I practised diving till after 11 o'clock.'
One evening Sid and I went for a walk and talked about what we'd do when the war was over. It wasn't over yet. The Japanese were still fighting, but the end seemed inevitable. What would we do? After all these years living outside, all the time on the move - could we ever settle down to a normal life again?
The idea almost scared us. Sid back to working in an office? Me back to a bakehouse? Neither of us could imagine it. The terrible times we'd endured, the comradeship we'd shared. Would we ever be the same again?
I unfor¬tunately lost touch with Sid after the war, but for myself, I found settling down again in 'Civvy Street' a difficult experience, and no ... I never would be the same again.
