The Making Of A Man

I volunteered in ’44, at seventeen and a half
My Mother said I was probably daft.
Dad accused me of not having the guts,
So I did it, I must have been nuts.
For the next 3½ years, the Army ran my life
But I learned to cope with all the strife.
Of the cold and the heat
Determined not to be beat
And then in a foreign land
From a boy, I became a man!

Derek D Barnaby – ex: RASC MT Inspectorate GHQ Fayid, 1947-48