25 February 2011

More (second hand) memories of Tripoli

Dad was in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (R.E.M.E) during his years of service with the British Army and served alongside many different regiments including in Malaya 75 Aircraft Workshops, in Germany 4 Field Workshops etc.

I don't know who he served alongside in Tripoli, but I do remember him telling me that one of his many and varied activities involved assessing the local drivers for their ability in driving. Apparently the driving test of the day required the candidates to be able to drive the vehicle in a straight line for 100 yards and then reverse the same distance in an equally straight line. I remember asking him why didn't it include corners etc but his reply was that in the base the roads were simply straight through.. good job then that he didn't decide to retrain as a driving instructor/examiner when he retired from the Army!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

A different world, Sage! My old man fought out there in hand-to-hand combat during the war - it makes me really wonder why on earth they bothered!
Some people believe that we all come from the Middle-East originally. It will be odd if they are the 'cause' of our demise too!