Best Thing that ever Happened to me

You see a guy die, even if it was one of your mates, it doesn't upset you like you'd think it would. It really doesn't. A funny thing really. You think more about it maybe after the war. One thing that happened to me that was very, very . . . it wasn't sad and it wasn't funny. There came a time when the submarines were being knocked off of, the German submarines knocked off, the planes and the boats were getting through with no problem what so ever, they decided to give the British Army leave from Italy. And to start off there was one man for each company, that's like a hundred men, would be picked some way or other, to go at a time. We were in a bad place at that time with the mules and the mud and I'd been on duty that night. I'd come back in the morning right into this bed in the farmhouse. Woke up with somebody to tell me that we were just about to have a draw to see who goes on this leave. We talked a little about it, but we weren't sure. Next thing you know, I fell asleep, next thing you know, I wasn't a sergeant then, corporal I think, this sergeant come, my troop sergeant came to me and said, "You've been picked. You've won." I assumed I had been drawn out of a hat and I couldn't believe it. I just couldn't believe the thought of me going home after that length of time. I just couldn't believe it. And then, this was the bit that I think about so very, very often. This guys name was Crotch. His name was Crotch. You can imagine what we called him, Sweaty. We always called him Sweaty. I met him after the war, since I've been in Canada. Went back for a reunion and I had this feeling all along there was something wrong in this sorting out of the hat and I said to Sweaty, "Tell me." I said, "The war is all over now, tell me what did really happen that morning when you said you drew my name out of the hat? " "Well," he said, "it's all over I guess and nobody's going to worry now." He said, "But we were all, it's just officers and troop sergeants that did this. We all got together and decided we wanted you to go." And I said it as I say in the book. You can keep all your medals, you can keep all your citations that was a, from your very young friends, that was the best thing that ever happened to me.