The Dieppe Raid was all Over!

I remember we were alerted for an exercise which is normal and when that happens you are confined to your tent lines. And I remember a fellow named Morton came to me and I was the section corporal and said his new wife had come down from Scotland and he wanted, she was in a farm just half a mile down the road from where we were in our tents, you see. He said, “Could I go and stay the night? ” with his new bride, of course. So I said, “No!” Because I knew everybody had to stay in our tent lines. And he said, “Can I see an officer? ” So I said, “Sure.” So I took him in to see Pete Oliver, he was a mounted police officer and Morton pitched his story about his wife and all that. And, of course, Pete didn’t know any more than I did that with exercise as far as we were concerned. So he said, “No, I am afraid not!” Unbeknownst to us this guy was a bit crazy and that was the catalyst that set him off. He jumped over this table that Pete was sitting at, behind a six foot folding table that we had in the tent and he hit him right in the nose; drove him right outta the back of the tent and it took me by surprise. But anyway I jumped on him and he was a big guy, about 6’2, strong as an ox. Anyway, about five other guys helped me finally and we subdued him. I think one of them rapped him on the head with a tent peg or something. We got him up to the field ambulance and the MO took a look at him and said this guy has got to be moved to Basingstoke, that was the No. 1 Neurological. He said, “Who brought him in? ” And I said, “I did!” And he said, “Well you’re going to have to go with him!” Well, I had made a date with a WREN, we had a pub in our unit lines and she was gonna come out from Chichester to meet me there so I was busting my butt to get back to meet this girl. I kept phoning the unit saying, “Send down a replacement,” and nobody showed up. So I went off, so we got to Bramshott, that’s Fifteen General Hospital, half way, we had to spend the rest of the night there. I think I phoned about three times, no answers from the guys because they had moved out. I didn’t know that, of course. So the next morning I got rid of my charge. I rode my bike back to the unit lines and when I got there, there was no one there except a couple of guys on crutches and a cook or two. So I said, “Where the hell is everybody? ” He said, “Haven’t you heard? ” And I said, “No.” He said, “We’ve raided Dieppe.” I said, “Good Lord!” We never thought we’d go back there after a month. We had all come back to England and the guys had told their wives and their girlfriends what we had been up to, we weren’t supposed to but you know soldiers they rattle away. Any wives want to know what the hell you are doing so it was a complete surprise.