To Be a Soldier I Must Go

After WWII my father put together a 'scrapbook' record of his service during that wartime period. It was a record of his training and of his time with the Royal Army Medical Corps in North Africa, Sicily, Italy and Northern Europe after D-Day. The details are not explicit of the war itself but more of the human aspect, the friendships and coincidences that occurred along the way. Included are brief details of his small part in the evacuation of Crete and details of a surgeon, New Zealander, Major Lindsey Rogers, who is described as, " the most remarkable person I have ever met." There were also many photographs particularly from the years spent in North Africa. Some from joining up through to demob and later reunions are included in this book. I have tried to put the 'scrapbook' details in some timeline order to tie up with some of the actual events that took place. There is also a poem that I believe deserves its place alongside other wartime poetry. It is a poem that my father wrote but left untitled. During the war many people would have been torn away from their work, their homes and their loved ones so I felt it very apt to take one line from that poem to title both that and the book, To Be A Soldier I Must Go.