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We had written the stories about our lives as Anti-Tankers and as POWs of the Japs in our first edition of 'It Happened To Us'. It took two happy years of our time, and while we touched a soft spot here and there, the boys enjoyed the exercise and we all got a lot of enjoyment and satisfaction putting our stories together.
The book was written for the benefit of anti-tankers and our friends and relatives, as we felt that it was unlikely that any other history of our lives would be left after we had moved on.
To our great surprise and joy, the book was well received and we quickly disposed of our limited edition.
There was considerable pressure to publish a second run, but we felt that the effort would not be as rewarding as the fun we had putting it together the first time.
And there the matter might have rested, had it not been for the persistence of some of our good friends.
Quite a few had enjoyed the humorous anecdotes in the book and insisted that we should tell them more about the lighter side of what happened to us.
The ground swell continued, and one person in particular would never let me out of his sight without trying to convince me that it was about time I settled down and put together the stories about the lighter side of our lives.
He was Peter Rawlins, my good friend and nurseryman whose father had also been a POW of the Japs, but who never talked about his experiences, much to Peter's regret.
"Your POW mates must have a hell of a lot of stories to tell about the lighter side of their lives. You were just boys at the time and must have got up to all sorts of skull-duggery. Soon it will be too late for your stories to be told."
"Go on 'Dad' tell them to us 'Boots and all'. Don't pull any punches, tell us your stories in the same language as you used in the army. Everyone uses it these days."
I knew what he was saying was true, I had heard so many stories about the lighter side of our lives whenever the boys got together. The more I thought about it, the more I was convinced that we could still have quite a lot of fun putting them together. Our circumstances were unique and as young men in our early twenties, we confronted them as best we could.
Maybe our friends were right, this was the time for a second edition. It was a challenging and exciting opportunity.
Maybe the boys of today, who are the same age as we were when we enlisted and who could have easily have been in the same position in which we found ourselves, might find our stories amusing and perhaps even a little enlightening and encouraging.
So away we went. In seeking the co-operation of my mates, their first response was, "What the Hell was funny about those days?" But as their thoughts mellowed, they began to chuckle as they related their stories.
Some of the stories have been drawn from diaries. Others have been recaptured from the records of our experiences written when we first returned home. Others, quite a few of those presented here, we just remembered.
When putting these stories together, the stark reality of our main interest became embarrassingly evident. We must have spent half our time talking about bowel related matters.
Food and its consequences constantly occupied our thoughts, but eating, though crucial to our very existence, wasn't funny. In a lighter vein, we found what happened after we had eaten much more amusing. This makes some of our stories pretty earthy and sometimes rather crude.
To convey an appreciation of our life at the time, I have written all the stories in the context in which they occurred.
Hopefully our tales will not offend and will be enjoyed as much as we have enjoyed putting them together.
While we don't profess to have literary skills, we still have our sense of fun and hope we are able to share it with you.
After all Geoffrey Chaucer wasn't all that discreet when he wrote his 'Canterbury Tales' quite some centuries back.
In writing it, I have sailed close to the wind of reality.
So here it is Peter - 'Boots and all' - Well! as near as I'm game.
IT HAPPENED TO US - MARK II
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