STORY MIKE KNOWLES ART CARLOS PINO COVER CARLOS PINO
OME ARMY UNITS LIKE THE PARACHUTE REGIMENT OR THE COMMANDOS ARE S OBVIOUSLY GLAMOROUS. OTHERS ARE LESS SO, AND PROBABLY AMONGST THE LEAST GLAMOROUS IS THE NAVY, ARMY AND AIR FORCE, INSTITUTES, UNIVERSALLY KNOWN AS THE NAAFI. CREATED IN 1921, IT RUNS RECREATIONAL FACILITIES AND SHOPS FOR MILITARY PERSONNEL AND THEIR FAMILIES. IN WORLD WAR TWO, ARMY NAAFI PERSONNEL WERE PART OF THE ROYAL ARMY SERVICE CORPS, OFTEN OPERATING NEAR THE FRONT LINES. AND IN AT LEAST ONE CASE... BEHIND ENEMY LINES.
4 1942, ONE DAY OUT FROM BASE IN THE NORTH AFRICAN DESERT, A LONG RANGE DESERT GROUP STOPPED FOR A BREW-UP, ONLY TO DISCOVER THEY HAD NO SUGAR AMONGST THEIR SUPPLIES.
WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE CHECKED THE STORES? BLIMEY! IT MUST BE ONE OF THEM MIRAGES.
YOU, SARGE.
THE SOLDIER ON LOOKOUT DUTY HAD SPOTTED A VEHICLE HEADING TOWARDS THEM BUT HE COULDN’T QUITE BELIEVE WHAT HE WAS SEEING.
I SWEAR IT LOOKS LIKE A MOBILE CANTEEN. BUT THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE.
5 THINKING THE SOLDIER WAS HAVING A JOKE, THE SERGEANT JUMPED ON TO THE VEHICLE BESIDE HIM AND GRABBED THE BINOCULARS. HE’S RIGHT! IT IS A CANTEEN.
OUR PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED, SARGE.
AS THEY WATCHED IN STUNNED SILENCE THE MOBILE CANTEEN DROVE UP AND STOPPED. A CHEERFUL-LOOKING CORPORAL WEARING A ROYAL ARMY SERVICE CORPS CAP BADGE APPEARED BEHIND THE COUNTER, READY FOR BUSINESS. GOT ANY SUGAR, CORPORAL?
YES, SARGE. I’VE GOT GRANULATED AND ICING. WHAT ARE YOU AFTER?
6 JUST THEN ANOTHER FIGURE APPEARED FROM BEHIND THE CANTEEN, SPEAKING WITH A DISTINCTLY AUSTRALIAN ACCENT.
THE ICING SUGAR’S JUST IN CASE ANY OF YOU POMS WANT TO DECORATE A CAKE. ER... WE JUST WANT SUGAR FOR OUR CHAR, SIR.
AS THE AUSTRALIAN OFFICER SPOKE, HE WAS JOINED BY AN EQUALLY TOUGH-LOOKING SERGEANT.
RIGHT, CORPORAL. JUST GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT AND LET’S GET MOVING. YES, SIR!
7 ENOUGH SUGAR TO LAST THE PATROL WAS DULY DISHED OUT AND PAID FOR THEN THE MOBILE CANTEEN RESUMED ITS JOURNEY ACROSS THE TRACKLESS DESERT.
I THOUGHT I’D SEEN EVERYTHING. IN THE CAB THE DRIVER, CORPORAL FRED TYLDESLEY FRUSTRATEDLY RECALLED THE EVENTS THAT HAD LED HIM TO NORTH AFRICA.
I DIDN’T LIKE THE LOOK OF THOSE TWO AUSSIES. AND WHAT WERE THEY DOING WITH THAT N.A.A.F.I. BLOKE?
IF IT WEREN’T FOR THEM I COULD HAVE SOLD A LOAD OF STUFF TO THOSE BLOKES. I JUST WISH I WAS BACK IN THE OLD SHOP IN LONDON.
BACK AT HOME, FRED TYLDESLEY HAD RUN HIS FAMILY GROCER’S SHOP. HE’D CARRIED ON AS WAR AND RATIONING BEGAN.
OUR BERT WILL LOVE THAT FOR HIS BREAKFAST.
GOT YOUR COUPONS, DEAR? WE’VE GOT SOME NICE BACON HERE.
No 4269
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No 4270
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