"No Road To Glory"

Le Havre

"At last Jones received orders to join his Battalion in the war zone.  He left the night-club life at the base without regret, and wondered if the front line trenches could be any hotter than Le Havre.

 

The first stage to rail-head was hardly a cheerful affair.  It was an all-night journey, and quarters were rather too cramped for anything but a hedgehog.  There were six occupants in the compartment, and four of these were morose and gloomy, as they were returning from leave.  A ration of bully beef and hard-tack had been issued before entraining, and the novelty, coupled with the idea of real campaigning, rather appealed to Jones.  When he gave voice to his enthusiasm, an Austrian, a particularly hard-boiled specimen of that rugged species, ruffled at having to leave London for 'Somewhere,' cussed the rookie for a 'damned young fool.' "

The Family Home in Haldimand that Thompson Left Behind to Go to War

[Tomorrow:  "On The Hands Down."]

[Written by Major A.R.Thompson for the Canadian Military Gazette.  Thompson's own experiences appeared as a series in the publication during the war years 1940s]