Oh Lucky Man
Sam and Anthony - Camestone Lower School
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Sam's great grandfather, John H. Lack of the Coldstream Guards, was under fire for the majority of his time in the Second World War. He wrote an amazingly detailed account of his adventures entitled "A Romance In War". It is called this because he met and married an Italian girl while serving in Italy. Read one of his adventures.
On
Friday 13th October, after artillery and air bombardments on our
positions, the enemy attacked with at least three divisions, about
20,000 men and tanks. The order was given for us to withdraw to the
plain below Hell Fire Pass. With no transport we had to get down the
best way we could. I managed to get a lift on a Bren-gun Carrier. The
driver's name was
Alf Bell from Birmingham. I met him again in 1985 at a 3rd Battalion
reunion dinner in Wellington Barracks and then every year since then.
With shells exploding behind us the driver didn't need prompting to get
a move on! He took those S bends on Hell Fire Pass like a rally driver!
I was relieved when we reached the bottom
There, we rejoined our own transport - so it was on the trucks and
away as fast as possible. The enemy were now at the top of the hill and
we were sitting ducks for their guns.
Our sappers had blown up the road at the top of Hell Fire Pass so we knew they couldn't advance any further for a while. Knowing the Italians, who were good road builders, it did not take long for them to repair the damage.
We had reached BuqBuq before a halt was called and the company was
spread out and took up defensive positions. I was summoned by the CSM
and told that my future role was to be a runner.
You have to realise that at this stage of the war we had no intercom wireless as such and all the orders from company headquarters to platoons had to be relayed by a runner - that was me.
My first job was nearly my last. Late that night word came from
Battalion headquarters that we were to withdraw under the cover of
darkness. It was my job to visit each platoon with the message - to 13,
14 and 15 Platoon. They were all spread out and I had to run half a mile
to the furthest platoon. I managed to find them all in the dark and
delivered the orders. It was only when I started back that the trouble
started.
It
was pitch black and I headed in the direction of our company
headquarters, or so I thought. After an hour of wandering round I
realised I was lost.
After another hour terror gripped me. What would happen if the company
withdrew? I would be left there in no man's land. Then, all of a sudden,
I heard the sound of a truck starting up. I ran hell for leather in the
direction of the sound and there, not a hundred yards away was company
headquarters! The first person I met was Captain Forbes who wanted to
know if I had managed to deliver the orders and I informed him that I
had.
Captain D.W.A.W. Forbes was my company commander for nearly four years. He was killed in Italy during 1943, three weeks after taking over as Lieutenant Colonel commanding the 3rd Battalion.
Late
in 1944 I was stationed near Salerno in Italy. I visited the military
cemetery there and one of the first graves I saw was Captain Forbes. I
was proud to have known such a soldier and gentleman.
1. On what date did this wartime adventure happen?
2. What was the name of the pass they drove through?
3. How many Italians attacked their position?
4. What was the Bren gun carrier's name and where did he come from?
5. What were the Italians good at?
6. When did David meet Alf Bell again?
7. Which role did David have after he left Hell Fire Pass?
8. To how many platoons did David have to carry messages?
9. What happened to David after he delivered the messages?
10. When and where did Captain D.W.A.W. Forbes die?
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Page last updated: 25th February 2014