JOURNAL. 203 PROVOST COY, MOASCAR
From the Company point of view the first shots were fired by the H.Q.
detachment at Moascar when the entire detachment were rushed down into
Ismailia and engaged in what has become known as the Battle of the Station
N.A.A.F.I. in their efforts to rescue some of the families who were
besieged there. Several N.C.O.’s returned to barracks with broken
batons. Egyptians have hard heads.
During those early days duties were many and long but there was never
any lack of volunteers. Company H.Q. staff had almost to be tied down
to their desks, or locked in their stores, in order to get the administration
done, while the initial shortage necessitated one wire-less operator
to do eighteen hours each day.
Since then N.C.O.’s have been on duty in Ismailia in wireless
jeeps every day and they have had everything up to bombs and bullets
thrown at them. Sergt. Dowse was very lucky on one occasion to have
had only his wireless aerial shot away, while L/Cpls Pearson, Richards
and Browne were not so lucky when a bomb was exploded at the Y.M.C.A.
Bridge. L/Cpl Browne was, fortunately, back on duty again before he
went on release, having been hit by a piece of bomb in the face and
L/Cpl Richards is now driving his jeep again. L/Cpl Pearson is on his
way back to the UK where we hope they will be able to repair the damage
to his arm. We are glad to hear that after being on the D.I. List for
seventeen days that his back had recovered satisfactorily. During the
last big show, the Battle of the Bureau Sanitair and the Caracol, we
were not seriously involved, and since then, although we were glad that
it resulted in the auxiliary police being put behind barbed wire, duties
have been almost dull.
