They’d break your leg

The engineers laid pontoon bridges where there was water. In some places that Canal du Nord had a lot of water in it. And they used pontoon bridges for us to cross on it. If you wanted a thrill you want to drive a team of mules over them. Where each mule is . . . you see riding one mule and drive the other on these limbers. And each mule would be crowding away from the outside of this pontoon bridge you know. They didn’t want to get too close to the edge. And you had to get your foot up on top of the pole otherwise they’d break your leg, crushing it. But they were just laid shortly before we went over, and then when we were over they - I don’t know how they rolled them up or what they did with them but they took them on again, to another place. That Canal du Nord, it wasn’t straight. We crossed it different times. I don’t know how many times we crossed the Canal du Nord. But it was always the same thing, we had these pontoon bridges laid for us. Now those fellas driving those lorries, they were to be commended in many ways. You take and drive a big truck at night without lights, not knowing what you are going to come up against, might be a hole in the road, might be a mine in the road. For them to do the job that they did, I think they did a magnificent job, and I thought so at the time too. I wouldn’t have traded places with any of them. Some said they’d wished they had one of those motor lorries to drive. And I said, “Not me, not without lights or anything at night, and not knowing where the heck you we’re going.”