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In the desert I was chased by the Germans and I thought my luck was running out. I was hit by one of their 88mm shells and it blew one of my tank’s tracks off. The crew and myself were out of the tank, which was on fire, like a dose of salts. We were being shelled and bombed like hell, as if hell had been let loose. The next thing I knew was that I was being picked up and put into an ambulance and taken to Tobruk hospital. After receiving first aid treatment to my eyes and having a good and thorough examination to see if I was fit, I was told to take a seat in the next room which was being used as a hospital ward. At 2 o’clock in the morning a sergeant came round the hospital shouting that all able-bodied patients who could walk should collect what kit they could carry and report outside. We were all put in whatever transport there was available and were told tome as little noise as possible. After we had got ourselves settled down we moved off, not knowing where we were going.

After travelling an hour or so, we stopped at Bardia caves for an hour’s rest. We then moved down to Mersi-Matruh. There we boarded a hospital train and started our journey to the unknown. We eventually arrived at a hospital in a place called Ishmailla, which is on the Suez Canal. We were taken to the 9th General hospital and met by the hospital staff, the doctors, sisters and other nursing staff. After receiving medical treatment and made more comfortable the Sister asked me where I had come from. I told her that we had come from Tobruk and we had left at 2 o’clock that morning. The Sister replied that we were lucky to be there as the Germans had taken Tobruk at 6 o’clock that morning. After about three weeks or more I was discharged from hospital and sent back to Abasir barracks to the Heavy Tank Training Squadron for further training.

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