On one occasion in 1977, the whole company was on the ground. We were doing a sweep of a set area, looking for hidden weapons, bomb making equipment, etc. We were dropped off and picked up by chopper. We were all back by late afternoon, safe in our base, chilling and p***ing around, watching TV and eating. Then one of the lads said, ‘Has anyone seen....’ We soon realised one of our blokes was missing. We’d left him out there, somewhere in bandit country.
I don’t have to tell you how serious that was. The s**t hit the fan big time and thirty minutes later the whole company was back out on the ground looking for him. Later that evening we received the message that he was safe. The story goes that because there were so many squaddies out on the ground that day there was some confusion when the choppers were picking everyone up and he got left behind. He said he waited for about an hour before he realised that no choppers were coming back, and he was on his own. He walked for a few miles until he came to two semi-detached farmhouses. He knocked on the door of one of them. When someone answered, he pointed his weapon at them and told them he needed to use their phone. Luckily, he chose the right house. In the other house, lived known IRA sympathisers, he was a very lucky chap.
A few years later when he was out of the Army, he came over to Germany for a holiday. I remember him knocking on my door at stupid o’clock in the morning. I opened the door and the first thing he said was ‘I’m a British soldier and I need to use your phone.’ I rolled up with laughter. He stayed with us for a few days and met up with some of his old Army buddies before returning home. He became a postman in Civvy street, so he ended up knocking on the doors of people he didn’t know for a living.
I’m sure everyone that served has a few ‘Pull up a sandbag’ stories in their locker. The ones you come out with when you’re down the pub with some of your mates. Looking back now they were some of the best years of my life...and some of the worst. The Unnamed Soldiers by Clive Ward. www.clivewardauthor.com
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