After three trips on the tank landing vessel Humphrey Gale I was posted to an ammunition depot at Abu Sultan which was protected by a Guards unit. I lived in an Army tent and found great tranquility in it. The Guards officers were all extremely kind to me and this posting was one of the happiest times in the Army.
One tragedy happened while there. Egyptian labourers were hired to handle the ammunition cases etc and a small railway was established to transport the ammunition across the desert to and from the storage sites. One morning I had an urgent call as one of the labourers had slipped between the diesel engine and a truck and was crushed to death. Each labourer just turned up each day in the hope of work, no one knowing their name or where they came from. As a result of this it was impossible to know what to do with the body or who to notify. Some poor family would have lost their wife and father, never knowing under what circumstances or having the body returned. I did not know what to do with the body and, enclosed in a body bag, got it transported down to the BMH at Fayid. Not long afterwards I received a not unexpected extremely irate call from the BMH duty medical officer asking me what on earth did I expect him to do with the body. I said I don't know, but don't return it to me, and fortunately he did not. It was a great tragedy and some family was never to know what happened to husband and father.
Troops often swam in the Great Bitter Lake and near to where they did the so called Sweet Water Canal flowed into it. It was only called "Sweet" because it was not salt water but it contained all manner of human effluent. A number of the troops who swam in the Great Bitter Lake where the Sweet one flowed into it started getting skin and ear infections. I had the water cultured at the BMH Fayid and the result showed a huge number of faecal organisms. I informed the Commanding Officer who at once banned all swimming. I was extremely unpopular, but it was the right decision.
While on this posting I was told that if you passed the Army driving test it would transfer to a UK one. One day I went to the Transport Officer seeking lessons with a view to getting a license. There was a small van and he asked me to get in and I drove it around Ismailia on desert roads, avoiding camels, donkeys and goats etc. When we returned to his hut I asked him when would I have my first lesson. He replied " You've passed". I must be the only person to have passed their driving test not knowing they were taking it!
Towards the end of 1955 the British Army was to end its occupation of the Canal Zone and the ammunition depots and supplies were to be handed over to Egyptian contractors. To protect the ammunition from being taken the British had put a double perimeter wire fence around each site and anti-personnel mines placed in the sand between the two boundaries. During the course of time and with some strong winds, some of the mines worked their way to the surface. Before handing over to the Egyptian contractors we warned them not to touch any metal object protruding out of the sand. On the very first day of the handover, and there was an overlap before we left, an Egyptian labourer was brought in to me with the fingers blown off one of his hands. He had picked up one of the mines! I doubt that anyone had bothered to warn him of the danger.
In early December 1955 I was due for a month's UK leave, not having had any during the year. By then York aircraft were flying troops to and fro the UK and on such I returned home for my leave. The York had to stop en route at Malta but it was night time when it did, so although I have been to Malta, I have seen nothing of it as the York took off for home just after dawn the next day.