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We landed at Taranto and were then transported to a village called Aquadelleviva, (The Fountain Of Life), where we were told which Battalions we would be joining, seeing that I was very close with a bunch of Scots, the officer who was allocating us, declared 鈥淚鈥檓 sure you鈥檝e got a Scotch Grandmother somewhere鈥�, and that鈥檚 how I became a member of the 5th Battalion, the only unit in the Parachute Regiment that did not wear the Red Beret, but were allowed to wear the Balmoral Bonnet, with a square of Hunting Stuart tartan behind the cap badge. This was a privilege granted them in 1942, when, as the Queens Own Cameron Highlanders, they became the first, if not only, Battalion at that time, to be taken en-bloc to join the Regiment, any man not wishing to become a parachutist could withdraw. This headgear continued to be worn until Sept44, just before the operation in Greece, when the Balmoral was replaced by the Red Beret, with the tartan patch being retained.
Arriving at Battalion H.Q. sometime in Jan 44 I was assigned to 14Ptn, D Company, and was taken by a Sgt Mitchell to a dug-out and was introduced, 鈥淭wo section, here鈥檚 your replacement, Pte Read鈥�, to be greeted by complete silence. I later learned that the section had recently lost men on patrol. After what seemed ages one of the lads spoke and said 鈥淐ome over here, and sit yourself down鈥� this soldier was Fred Hoggarth, who came from Kendal and was formerly in the Northumberland Fusiliers, we became very good mates for all time. I soon learned that ground conditions at this time, were so bad, that mechanical warfare was out of the question for both sides. The decision had been made at Army H.Q. to use the 2nd Brigade as a means of relief for the troops who had been in the front line from the start of hostilities in Italy, and that at times the Brigade would plug the gap when a Division was withdrawn for a well earned break. Consequently, at times we were very thin on the ground, resulting in such stories as, 鈥淒id you hear about the Jerry patrol that turned up at B Company cookhouse for breakfast?鈥� Our activities consisted of Recce, Standing, and Fighting patrols. A Recce patrol, usually consisting an officer and a couple of other ranks carried out at night, to try and locate enemy positions, a standing patrol was just what the name implied, being posted to a forward position, being holed up during daylight hours, and seeing what we could find out about enemy positions during night-time. On one occasion the officer checking positions came to where Fred, myself, and a couple of others were dug in, asked to use the radio, when being told that we didn鈥檛 have it, but that it was with the other half of the section, asked to speak to Sgt McEwen, on being told that the Sgt was also with the other half, told us to 鈥淐arry on鈥� and departed. When we had been relieved and were back at base, I was summoned to see the Company Commander, when I arrived, it was to find the Sgt waiting there, he said he didn鈥檛 know what was going on either. He was first to be called, he came out and it was my turn, it transpired that whilst our section was in a forward position, the Sgt and the radio should both have been where Fred and I were, it being the most forward of the two dug-outs, the outcome was that the Sgt was deprived of one stripe (he was actually a L/Sergeant), and demoted to Cpl, and I was to be promoted to L/Cpl. I then received a short r茅sum茅 of my duties, later, the Ex-Sgt cut one of his stripes off and gave it to me, this de-motion and promotion seemed to go down well within the section. As an additional punishment the now Corporal McEwen and 2 section (us) were despatched on another standing patrol, upon arrival at the dug-out and relieving the section another cock-up was revealed, the Corporal had not made arrangements for rations to be collected, so for 24hrs we had to exist on bits and pieces that had been left behind by previous occupants. Needles to say, soon after this a certain Corporal was conspicuous by his absence. Sometime later I learned that he was a Sergeant in a Military Prison, a post probably more within his capabilities. Another colourful character in 2 section was Eddie Bulonus, I think I spelt that correctly, a moustached Lithuanian, who seemed to have a personal vendetta against the Germans but never the less, a very likeable bloke, who would act as platoon cook when we were on detachment. This brings me to another episode, whilst occupying a position on a hill overlooking a valley leading to Cassino, which involved occupying a 2 man look-out 24hrs a day, section by section. This day Fred ,Eddie, Penson and myself were playing Solo in the dug-out, when Eddie and Penson had a disagreement over something or other, Eddie looked at his watch and decided it was time to be doing something about lunch so set off down the hill to the cookhouse area, arriving there simultaneously with an 88mm shell fired by the enemy. He was the only casualty. Penson went haywire and we had to call medics to sedate him. I remember another incident involving myself, it was at stand-to one morning pre-dawn, Jerry started slinging a few shells over, one landed fairly close and I felt a terrific blow in the face, I put my hand up to my forehead to find it soaking wet, it turned out that my worst injury was the heavy dew being blown from the bush I was lying near, just for a moment with the blast and the wet I really thought I鈥檇 copped it. On another occasion in the same location I went down the hill to warn the next section that it was their turn to take over, when, Sgt Wilkins, who was on the field telephone, said 鈥淗ang on鈥� he then told me to go back to the O.P not to crawl up as was the usual method, but to run up, wait a couple of minutes ,then stand up, and walk back down again. Having duly complied I was then told to walk back to the O.P then leave it and move to the left where 15 Platoon were stationed, to say I was apprehensive would be a gross understatement. Whilst this was going on unbeknown to me word had got round that the Germans had pulled out, but I was still out there on my own, by the time I reached 15Ptn they were waiting for me, Someone said 鈥淒o you want a cuppa?鈥� Sgt Bryceland said 鈥淕et that bottle out of my bunk he needs more than a cuppa鈥�. By now everyone was up on hilltop and we saw troops moving along the valley, I think they were New Zealanders.
On an earlier occasion I remember being positioned next to a heavy artillery battery manned by New Zealand troops, I think we were one section to a gun, rations were good, but the accommodation was terrible, a ramshackle farm shed, the weather was freezing, we had made a fire in the centre of the floor, knocked a tile off to let the smoke out but it didn鈥檛 work. Fred came up with an ingenious idea to create a hood over the fire and make a chimney out of empty ration tins that were lying about, it worked a treat.
In another instance, on another location in a village, 1 Section took on guard duties, our section bedded down in room with a charcoal fire, dropped off to sleep, next thing I remember was coming to after having been dragged out by members of 1 Section, who had come, to warn us that we were next on duty. Apparently we had all been overcome by fumes from the fire (talk about self-inflicted wounds).
Some characters of 14ptn
Pte William O鈥機onnor 鈥淥or Wullie鈥� Platoon Wide-Boy Scam Operator with a ready wit, Crown and Anchor, Spot the Lady, that was Willie

Pte D. J. Singleton I never did know his Christian name. He was very Blonde and always called 鈥淧enny鈥� after a certain Actress of the day, or 鈥淗en鈥� by 鈥淥or Wullie鈥� a bit effeminate in actions loved preening in front of the mirror.

Cpl Louis 鈥淛os鈥� Cabena loved nothing more after having had a couple of jars than conducting a small Choir with himself in the lead.

Pte Padnig MacPhee answered to 鈥淧eter鈥� came from one of the far distant Scottish Isles, spoke with a very broad Scottish accent and was often ragged by people asking 鈥淚s it true that you came down for the rations and they grabbed you鈥�

On another occasion in a rest camp near Salerno 14Ptn were on Main guard duty, things were a bit slack, and we had been doing all the things we were not supposed to do, like taking off boots and bits of equipment during 4 hours off, and when we took over to do our 2 hrs on would just relieve the bod on duty take his rifle and carry on. That evening there was a bit of a do in the Officers Mess, and it turned out that the Duty Officer was involved, culminating in him turning up in the early hours to turn out the Guard, consequently, when we assembled outside, talk about 鈥淔red Karno鈥檚 Army鈥� the soldiers actually on duty had rifle with bayonet fixed plus bayonet in scabbard, the others turned out with rifle and no bayonet, some with boots unlaced and equipment half on, in other words a proper shambles, consequently Cpl Capper, who was N.C.O, I/C was told to place himself on a charge and report to Company Office in the morning. He was duly panicking, when it occurred to me, that the Officer was so pissed that when he鈥檇 slept on it he would probably decide that under the circumstances it would be best for everyone if it went no further, so I told the Cpl to just play it by ear, which he did, nothing happened.

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