Post
by Frank Daniel » Thu May 19, 2011 1:59 pm
Good days with good old shenanigans.
Jimmie was a bit of a war-monger when he was a kid and used to own lots of lead or plastic soldiers, army tanks, jeeps, trucks etc. you name it, he had a great collection, and used to create actual battle fields in Mums garden using bungers for mines, tom-thumbs for minor weaponry etc and used to redesign anything that contained gun powder into something of more realistic value. He'd spend hours setting up his battlefied with trenches, bridges, dugouts, fortresses, rivers and ditches, interconnecting various points with a string wick that had been soaked in lighting kero and strategically placed to take the flame and blow the whole shebang to smithereens within minutes. Then the search was on for the missing vehicles and the dead and wounded were returned to their cardboard box until they were needed again in the next up and coming assault against the Germans.
As far as I know, Jimmie had only heard of the Germans and the Japs as our enemy. Today he is still an authority on the war years and we often turn to him for information. It's easier to be told than to have to read it all.
Joe