My protestations that it all happened a long time ago and that such experiences are not so interesting to a new generation were of no avail! I found I had agreed to write about some of my experiences of the 2nd World War. All I have done is to recall some personal reminiscences and anecdotes of six years Active Service as an Army Chaplain, four of them in the Middle East, not unique, anyone who served could do the same!

At the time of the outbreak of war my wife and I were on holiday on the South Coast. On Sunday September 3rd 1939, instinctively and with a palpable sense of foreboding everyone had gathered in the Hotel lounge at 11 a.m. to hear P.M. Chamberlain’s Speech explaining that the Ultimatum to Germany had failed and that consequently we were at war with Germany. A sense of gloom pervaded the room, everyone wondering how they would be affected. No one wanted war, everyone was hoping up to the last minute it could have been avoided. Yet at the same time there was a sense of relief and resolve as we heard the P.M.’s words “It is evil things we shall be fighting against” he said “ and against them I am certain that Right will prevail”.

I was commissioned as a Chaplain to the Forces with the Rank of Captain on St. George’s day (appropriately!) April 23rd 1940, and sent to Aldershot for some training and stationed in the Area for several months. (I remember watching the ‘Battle of Britain’ being waged high overhead in the clear blue skies of Southern England in the late summer of 1940). I was posted to Dover early in 1941 and attached to an Anti-Aircraft Regiment. Whilst visiting various dug-outs I witnessed the use of Radar which was then new.

In June 1941 I was posted Overseas to the Middle East. We sailed from Gorock in a convoy of troopships. The convoys zig-zagged to avoid being torpedoed, but being in the tail-end of the convoy we were torpedoed by a German U-boat in the early hours of Saturday, July 6 1941, three-hundred miles off the Azores and six days out from England. We clambered into the life-boats as best we could, only to be told to jump out to avoid being dragged down by the Ship’s suction. It sank in twenty-five minutes. After swimming for a while we were picked up by three of the Navy escort ships. (We were told afterwards that we had been in shark infested waters!) Two hundred and twenty-four men were lost out of a compliment of about thirteen hundred. The tragedy was that the staircase of the lower deck was blown away and many of the men could not swim. I was hauled up on to the deck of a Naval survey ship. My tunic and trousers dried in the Captain’s Cabin. Very soon I was called upon to take three funerals, remembering the essential parts of the service by heart, as all my books and belongings were at the bottom of the sea and there was no Book of Common Prayer on the Bridge. We were then transferred, at sea, to the Armed Merchant Cruiser ‘Cathay’ and put into Freetown, West Africa, to re-kit.

Unknown to me in Freetown there were some RAF personnel, one of whom was Aircraftsman Albert Edgington of Kirtlington, my father’s parish and formerly my home. Realizing from reports who I was, when he later flew back to England, he was able to tell the family at the Vicarage what had happened. Owing to strict security we were not able to mention it in our letters.

There followed a ten weeks voyage, round the Cape, in a commandeered luxury Cruiser ‘The Monarch of Bermuda’. I remember ‘Crossing the line’ (the Equator) and its ceremonies; the Southern Cross (the constellation only visible in the Southern Hemisphere) and the luminous Flying fish (alongside our Ship). For fun we had a beard growing competition which I won! Eventually half the convoy put in to Cape Town, and the other half (mine) into Durban for a week and we enjoyed the well-known hospitality of those years. My host and hostess had a lovely home in a beautiful setting on the hillside overlooking Durban and the sea.

One day two Army doctors invited me to join them for a drive by car 100 miles into Zululand, and we met the local Tribal people and their Chief. One of the memories of South Africa was the scented Bougainvilia in the Durban Officers’ Club.

After Durban we called in at Aden which was extremely hot. Then through the Suez Canal to Port Tewfik, and on to Cairo and thence to the transit Camp at the British base of Abyssia. I was then posted to Jerusalem (a kind of ‘rest’ posting after being torpedoed).

As you may imagine Jerusalem was an ideal posting for a Chaplain. Being 2,100 feet above sea level it has a wonderful climate and a somewhat green environment. I was billeted in Christ Church, Jerusalem, in an Anglican Hostel belonging to the Church Mission to Jews. Some English residents were there and two other Chaplains.

After a month in Jerusalem I received Posting Orders in September 1941 to go ‘up the Desert’ by Destroyer at night from Alexandria (‘Alex’ to the troops) to Tobruk, which was under siege. It so happens that the rest of my war experiences were centred in two distinct Zones:

1. The War Zone of North Africa in the Western Desert Campaign.
2. The Holy Land, and neighbouring Countries.

In Tobruk I was attached to a General Hospital as C. of E. Chaplain. We were part of a Division sent to relieve the Australians. On the first night the Colonel took me down to the Harbour, where I received a baptism of fire from the shells fired by the German Big guns either side of Tobruk, nick-named by the troops ‘Derna Dick’ and ‘Bardia Bill’. Tobruk was deserted of course, shops were boarded up and the bombed out Church was still standing in the centre of the Square.

Other memories of Tobruk were the superb sea bathing from our ‘Beach’ Hospital. The improvised Hospital Chapel was well looked after. The only flowers available for the Altar for a Harvest Festival were the Desert Cacti.

I organised a wonderful nostalgic Carol Service of Nine Lessons (Lessons read in ascending Ranks) for Christmas 1941. Eventually we were relieved by General Auchinleck’s Battle (a forerunner of General Montgomery’s tremendous victory of El Alamein). I took a number of Desert Funerals in that Battle, sometimes in a Sandstorm lasting 2 or 3 days but the good news was no enemy Air action was possible in a Sandstorm. While the Battle was on I and the other two Hospital Chaplains (Roman Catholic and Other denominations) were engaged in intensive visiting of the wounded and then seeing many of them on to the Hospital Ship in the Harbour.

Those of my generation will remember the pattern of the Desert warfare. The repeated advancing and retreating of Rommel’s troops. Our troops called it ‘The Benhazi Handicap’. In 1989 Artemis Cooper published an excellent book “Cairo in the 1939-45 War” and has a Chapter headed “The Benghazi Handicap” as well as a Chapter on “Tobruk”. George Bennett (to be continued in next month’s issue of Parish Pickings )

In March 1942 (after 6 months in Tobruk) I was posted to a Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment in the Port Town of Haifa in Palestine (the Biblical Mount Carmel). We occupied a luxury Hotel which the Army had taken over and every room had a balcony overlooking the sea. The Regiment were marking time in reserve before being sent into action when required. I spent about a year with them. The Adjutant of the Regiment was a very good photographer and took a number of impressive panoramic views as well as normal sized photographs, copies of which I still possess. The C.O. asked me to take a number of troops once a week round the Sacred Sites of the Holy Land, which took me back to visiting Jerusalem again. I read H.V. Morton’s “In the Steps of the Master” and worked out an itinerary. Trips included the Temple Area, the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane, as well as Bethlehem, Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee.

Whilst in Haifa I was sent, for about three months, to a small unit stationed in Tiberias on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is 14 miles long, 7 miles wide and 600 feet below sea level and very hot! Tiberias was well shown in Anne Gregg’s T.V. Series (1993), with its bustling life, hotels and inevitable Tourist attractions (‘St. Peter’s Fish Restaurant’ in neon lights!). Historically, Tiberias has been one of the leading Jewish Cities in Palestine through the Centuries. Archdeacon Wytton-Davies (one time of Oxford) in his book “Journey of a life- time” speaks of Tiberias as “the chief centre of Judaism after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70” and it had a high tradition of Jewish scholarship. The T.V. Series in 1962 with John Bonner and Anna Lawson was based on this book. They describe their view of the hillside of Tiberias from their boat on the Lake as “clustered with many modern buildings, hotels and private houses, and the shimmering blue of the lake”.

Another memory: It was whilst stationed in Tiberias that a Senior Chaplain took me for an unforgettable day to see the Roman City of Jerash in Jordan with its remains, cobbled streets and even shop fronts intact.

Of the many interesting churches, remains, and historical sites we visited on the Haifa ‘trips’, I shall just mention two:

(1) The Synagogue of Capernaum (at the north end of the Lake):
In St. Mark’s Gospel Chapter 2 it is called Jesus’ “Home” in fact the Headquarters of His Galilean ministry. Here are the remains of the partially reconstructed Roman Synagogue. St. Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 7 speaks of the Roman Centurion who’s son Christ had healed and of whom the Jews said “he loveth our nation, and hath built us a Synagogue”. This Synagogue was rebuilt in the 2nd Century and clearly the original stones were used. What was most fascinating were the carvings on the capital of a pillar of the Badge of the Roman 10th Legion jostling with the Jewish carvings of David’s star (6 points) and Solomon’s star (5 points) and also with the ‘Pot of Matma’ and the ‘Ark of the Covenant’. A Jewish Synagogue but with Roman military symbols as well as Jewish symbols.

2) The Quayside of Capernaum:
You can see large grappling irons (circular iron rings) for tying up vessels larger than the fishing boats you see on the lake to-day. A Naval Officer confirms that they are like those in larger Ports in Turkey and Asia indicating the busy Trade Route crossing the Lake (East to West). This explains Matthew’s Customs Office there.

At Haifa the Chaplains stationed in the Area met regularly. Monty’s brother was one of them (‘Monty’ was the affectionate name given to General Montgomery by the troops). I imagine the history books would not mention the fact that Monty started every day in the Desert with regular prayer in his tent attended by his Staff Officers. He called together all the ‘Commanding Officers’ and Senior Officers for a ‘pep talk’, which our C.O. attended. I remember well how he came back very impressed by Monty’s positive attitude and the message “we are going to knock Rommel for six”!

In 1943 I was due to move with the Regiment to Italy, but went down badly with Jaundice. After the Jaundice I, and some others, were sent for Convalescence to the impressive High Commissioner’s Residence in Jerusalem. Our Hostess was Lady McMichael. It was like being in an English home again.

Eventually I was posted to Beirut as Chaplain to the British General Hospital there. The Vestry door of the English Church at Beirut opens literally on to the pebbled beach! One weekend I was sent into the Mountains behind Beirut – a zigzag road – deep snow – extremely cold at night – to take Services for a Scottish Highland Skiing Regiment.

In 1944 I was posted to Cyprus for 3 months, stationed at Famagusta, where I was also in charge of the English Church as the Archdeacon was unable to visit in war-time. I had a pleasant week on leave in Mount Troodos, where there is an English Chapel and a Holiday Hotel. There are wonderful views from Mt. Troodos.

Finally, to Egypt for several months to the large British Camp at Tel-el-Kebir (only half an hour from Cairo). On leave I visited the Pyramids and, across the road, the well-known Mena House Hotel and, in Cairo, the famous Shepheards Hotel; burnt down since but now re-built.

In May 1945 I came home an leave for one month, partly compassionate as my mother had operations for Cancer – successful – she lived to be 96! My wife and I were in London with other family members for the VE day celebrations. Back to the Middle East and finally home in 1946.

One or two reflections: Mention must be made of the wonderful spirit of war-time comradeship. Everyone had the same objectives: to regain freedom, defeat Hitlerism and all its evils and return home. Everyone realised it was a war not only for our own survival but for the survival of Civilisation. (It was no exaggeration when Sir Winston Churchill, after the rescue from Dunkirk when we stood alone, warned that failure to withstand Hitler and regain our freedom would mean that the “whole world would sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age”). It was this Camaraderie together with, for example, the morale boosting popular music of the time, which accounts for the nostalgia which so many who served still have, and is given expression in the annual Reunions which still take place.

As to the future, the hope must be that as the world gets ‘smaller’, and the ‘Global village’ becomes more of a reality, not to mention the development of nuclear weapons, the world will have learnt its lesson, and such a catastrophe, in a real sense an ‘Armageddon’, will never happen again. Yet, it will always remain true in the words of the Irish lawyer and Parliamentarian, J.P. Curran: “The condition upon which God has given freedom to man is eternal vigilance”.

The Rev. George Bennett,
Oxford, 2000

Sadly, George died last weekend, 9-12-2000. He will be missed by many people.