Just to bump this back to the front page; I've been missing my daily fix of fascinating reminiscence. I understand Danny is waiting on Taphappy... but please don't let this thread drift down the black hole of the forgotten. These sort of memoirs represent the only access to "how it was"... and your audience are all on tenterhooks!!
Let me endorse Danny's invitation to anyone with wartime experiences to get to the keyboard and keep up the momentum on this thread....possibly the greatest ever on Pprune.