My neighbour Bob Thwaites spent some time in the 1940s blowing things up. He had, as he puts it, "a noisy war". Much later, he wrote down some of his experiences as stories to entertain his children. They deserve a wider audience.
| Enlistment | Becoming an Engineer |
|---|---|
| Chatham | Normal people and a miniature spoon |
| Square-bashing | "Do you want me to try and train you?" |
| Corporal Fox | "Range the ferry for artillery bombardment!" |
| Rite of Passage | Syphilis, God, and Chapel |
| Musketry | "Stand up, you ..." |
| Postscript | "There is no fourth stage." |
| Sgt. Harris | When the going gets tough ... |
| Debut | Commander of the Guard |
| Sand | Fetching the general's caravan |
| Priorities | Daphne and the Sphinx |
| Mike | Middle-aged at thirty |
| First blood | Italian bombers, and Spitfires |
| Beirut | Broken bones, and music |
| Farce - part 1 | Mission: unknown! |
| Farce - part 2 | English country gentlemen! |
| Jerusalem | A Polish uniform problem |
| Western Desert | Bombs and melon seeds |
| General Freyberg | When the beer ran out |
| Heartbreak | Mines in the Canal |
| Discipline | Weeping gelignite |
| Interlude | Cordon bleu with added sand |
| Camouflage | Photo reconnaissance and what do do about it |
| Abadan | How to hide an oil refinery |
| Basra | A small whisky at the airport |
| Mosul and after | Iraq to Cairo |
| Character | Tony the Welshman |
| Armoured division | Gurkhas and gelignite |
| Ilkley | Dancing with the Best Ilkley Families |
| Footnote | Lofty's buttocks in the moonlight |