As a truck driver in the Canal Zone of Egypt in 1948, Billy’s duties involved delivering yeast to the small mobile bakeries in the desert from the garrison at Moascar, which was situated roughly at the mid-point of the Suez Canal.
That year Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Syria attacked Israel and some of the Egyptians became very hostile towards the British troops. Stories about vehicles leaving the garrison and not returning started to circulate, and some of the civilian workers refused to leave the garrison with their horses and wagons, because the Egyptian military were supposedly confiscating all transportation and placing it on trains going to the front. Turmoil was the order of the day.
As hostilities increased, word came down for Billy to select a weapon suitable
for his duties and he was surprised by the informality of the procedure. He
was handed a key and given directions to a small hut not much larger than an
outhouse, which they called the company armory. It was filled with all kinds
of guns and ammunition, including rifles, automatic Bren guns, Sten guns and
Thompson Sub- machine guns also revolvers in all shapes and sizes. At first
glance he favoured the Thompson, but thought he would look rather silly walking
around like Al Capone or J Edgar in the desert. He then drifted towards the
Luger revolver, which was a nice looking side arm, but was finally attracted
to the Colt 35 and 48, because they came with cowboy holsters and Mexican type
bandoliers, which he always wanted, but never received as a kid. He finally
selected the colt 35, because it was smaller and lighter than the 45, however
it probably didn’t make much difference, because he was never trained
in the use of revolvers anyway.
For a period of time his deliveries in the desert went without incident and
Billy returned to the garrison as many times as he left. There were a few occasions
when small boys contrived to stop his vehicle, but they didn’t succeed,
because by that time he was aware of their tricks. For the most part they just
wanted to stop vehicles and steal the contents, because anything and everything
in Egypt was saleable at the time.
With the impressive looking Colt in its holster hanging at the hip and the bandolier full of bullets over his chest, Billy was a sight to behold. A soldier to be reckoned with who felt that his appearance alone would probably frighten away the average adversary. The day he was secretly dreading finally arrived and just as he was driving through a small mud village on his way back to the garrison, the engine failed and the lorry came to an abrupt halt. Within seconds as he attempted to restart the engine, the vehicle was surrounded by a large group of local Arabs in their traditional long white night shirts and little round hats. Aware that the crowd was mainly on one side of the lorry, Billy ejected himself through the door on the other side and realised why the crowd wasn’t there, as he landed at the bottom of a large size hole in the sand. Looking up from his disadvantaged position in an embarrassing predicament, he observed the mob scurrying all over the vehicle, like they had discovered a new toy. The frightened soldier scrambled out of the hole on his hands and knees expecting to do battle, with absolutely no idea how to handle the situation.
On ground level Billy looked up and down the road for other military vehicles, expecting the cavalry to arrive, which is what happens in the movies and was his only reference to this situation. The army had not trained him for such contingencies! He smelled the bitter sweat of fear as he considered drawing his shiny revolver from its holster, but couldn’t come to terms with the image of standing in front of the large mob and threatening them with a gun, particularly one he was unfamiliar with. The throng was also growing in size, making it difficult for him to be on the outside of them, which was his only chance if it resorted to violence.
Everything happened so fast, or so it appeared and he noticed that the bonnet
on the lorry was up and an Arab in overalls was doing something with the engine.
In their frenzied attempt to investigate the vehicle, no one was paying any
attention to Billy, which was a strange feeling as if he was invisible, or perhaps
‘he was already dead and didn’t know it,’ he thought. Or maybe
it was one of those realistic dreams, but no such luck this time. Under the
circumstances he did not wish to bring attention to himself and kept the holster
flap buttoned over the gun, but his hand never far away in case someone attempted
to grab it. At that point he gave serious consideration to whether the gun was
an asset or a liability, but before panic set in, the mechanic who was working
on the engine started it up and beckoned him to return to the lorry.
Billy leapt into the drivers seat without missing a beat and thanked the mechanic profusely as he drove away in haste, with little Arab urchins jumping off the vehicle as it increased speed.
Down the road Billy breathed a sigh of relief and decided that he must stop
at the village the next day to take a little something for the mechanic to show
his appreciation, but how would he find him amongst all those white night shirts
and did he really want to tempt fate a second time. The answer was a resounding
no!