After leaving Egypt at the beginning of December 1955, I returned to the UK for three weeks' leave. Interestingly enough by then the Army was flying troops by plane, the famous York. This aircraft was developed from a wartime bomber and had very few comforts and was incredibly noisy.
The day before my leave ended when I was due to fly to Cyprus at the beginning of January 1956 to my posting at the British Military Hospital, Nicosia, the papers reported that an EOKA bomb had exploded outside the Officers' Mess at the hospital. I was therefore given an early idea of what was to come.
Once settled in my new posting one aspect of the Officers' Mess was the very cordial relations between the regular and the National Service officers. This was in pleasant contrast to matters in Egypt where we were just a holding army with nothing to do and nothing to bond us together. In Cyprus the grim results of terrorism meant we all had to work together to deal with the many badly wounded troops, and relations between Regulars and National Service officers was extremely harmonious.
The surgical team was lead by Colonel John Watts, a most distinguished war surgeon who had performed wonderful feats in treating the wounded not only in World War 2 but also in the Korean War. His experience was second to none and we were very fortunate to have had the privilege of knowing him and working under him.