given his age, he would have been the only 16-year-old Canberra Navigator on Suez operations!
We once had a Walt - been there, done that, no matter what or where. He told us many times he had once lost a very important piece of paper, for which he was responsible. Result - 28 days inside. We knew this story to be true, and also the date of the event.
He was regaling us with the story, yet again, one evening, and a newcomer commented that he would never get his Long Service & Good Conduct Medal, for which 18 years' undetected crime is one of the requirements.
"Already got it," sezee. He did not notice the sudden silence, or the howls of laughter that followed. For him to have the medal, he would have had to be three years old when he joined up.
The thing is, even when he knew his cover was blown, it made no difference to his tall tale-telling.