Box Brownie and Chugalug,
...If you felt inclined, his civil aviation career would be as fascinating reading about as his Service one...
Amen to that ! (and [I venture to guess] so would say all of us !) Please let us have it - if it's not too much trouble).
As Chugalug has noted: "All's grist that comes to this mill" (this Thread is a very Broad Church ! - thanks to the loose rein the Moderators hold us on).
(BB pp JD) said that people would not believe you if you told them what conditions were like in Burma, they would not believe you or think you were shooting a line, which is why so many kept quiet.
Harks back to Kipling's old time-ex soldier:
"
The things that was that I 'ave seen,
In barrick, camp - an' action, too.
I tells 'em over to meself,
And sometimes wonders if they're true,
For they was odd, most awful odd !"
In my case, things were quite civilised: I lived in a standard "basha" on my (air-transportable) "charpoy", ate three meals a day (even if they were all bully beef, powdered potato, eggs, "soya links", curried something [don't ask] and rice). Bearer to bring cuppa chae in morning..... Utter luxury in comparison with the PBI in the rain and mud of monsoon Burma.
I suspect that John's living conditions "behind the lines" would be more like the Army.
Danny.