Allan's War

         That son-in-law of mine!  Always getting into scrapes of one kind or another, and regaling us with his stories when on leave.  I never knew if his leaves were authorized or not, for often he came at night and left before dawn.  He simply couldn’t keep away from Eileen, who seemed to enjoy his visits as much as he did, from the sounds coming from her bedroom.

         It seems he was promoted and demoted several times, at one point being the youngest Warrant Officer in the Canadian army.  He was demoted once for driving his little infantry vehicle (I think it was called a Universal Carrier) into a tidal stream to clean it.  To his horror he discovered it gone, carried away by the tide.  He had numerous escapades with his Norton motorcycle, which he used on his night-time visits to Frensham.  On one occasion he collided with an army truck and was hospitalized for several days.

         He was chosen for officer’s training late in the war, and so missed D-Day, since he was on leave from Sandhurst.  When he was commissioned he was sent to Europe to join the Hussars, and commanded four armoured cars, leading the Allied troops to meet the enemy.  He lost all his new uniforms when an anti-tank shell passed right through the boxes carrying his clothes.  After a bit he received another set of uniforms.  He also lost these then an artillery shell exploded the trailer carrying them. 

         So Allan had his excitement during the war.   When V-E day was declared he came home on leave for a few weeks.  He applied to join the Canadian effort to defeat the Japanese, and on that day he came home to sit down with Eileen and plan their future.