My old English teacher Vic Prooth was an infantry officer in Burma during the war. Some of the tales he told us were toe curling. We were in class with him when news came through that Bill Slim had died, it would have been 1970, and he was visibly moved.
He took us to Stratford to see every Shakespeare play they performed during my two years with him, I didn't appreciate it at the time but I do now. Vic died recently, he was a great guy and a damn good teacher.