I WAS stationed on the coast outside Rome with the 5th battalion of the Parachute Regiment when the European war came to an end.
We celebrated VE Day with a service on the beach and spent the rest of the day on the beach and in the sea.
A few days later, we took part in a march through Rome with all other units which had fought in Italy. It was exhilarating to march behind a pipe band where Roman legions had marched centuries before.
Within six weeks we were back in England to prepare to go to the Far East to take on the Japanese. Fortunately, the dropping of nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought about the Japanese surrender.
Instead six battalions of paras went to Palestine to try and limit the influx of refugees. I lived in a tent outside Gaza for six months until ending exactly four years of military service. I have avoided sleeping in a tent ever since.
Bill Heppell, Rawcliffe Lane, York.
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