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They carted off quantities of the better preserved relics and displayed them in the Berlin Museum; whether or not they survived the bombing of WWI I don't know. Again we were amazed at the skills of the ancient artisans, building blocks fitting together with scarcely any visible joints.
When such a mix-up occurred the restive audience would yell, "Get yer money ready, Shafto," harking back to similar situations in WWI. Waiting for an audience to arrive an Arab stood with his wares, beautiful green grapes that he sold at 50 fils a pound, about the price of ten good cigarettes.
My parents when told of my enlistment had different reactions, father said little, probably thinking of his experiences in WWI but mother who would not let me join the Boy Scouts or the school Cadet Corps because they were too militaristic said, "you're a fool!" At the time I thought that was a bit hard but six months into the war and I had to admit she had a point.
I have a portion of such a brick, not in this case purloined by me but given to me by another member of the group who got tired of carrying it The site had its own interesting museum and the whole was guarded by some smart Arab soldiers, members of the Arab Legion that had been formed after WWI by the British and that was under the command of Glubb Pahsa, an officer seconded for the job.
Until 1942 I was never issued with a complete kit but over that period I was given some replacements of personal items; we also changed our WWI uniforms for battle dress. We didn't lose our leather bandoliers however and we were supplied with the Royal Navy's black leather gaiters. We were still not sartorially attractive.
Then came the issue of equipment, this was rather sparse, all of it being of WWI vintage or earlier, khaki tunics with brass buttons, drainpipe trousers, second-hand boots and what seemed quite remarkable brown leather bandoliers for the 50 rounds of .303 ammunition with which we were never issued. Were we then to be cavalry?
We travelled in style this time to start with. After WWI two Australians, seeing the potential, had acquired some vehicles and started a company, Nairn Transport, to carry passengers and freight across the Middle East and our party was put on two of their air conditioned coaches to travel from Baghdad to Damascus.
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