Stop or I will S**t!
Hello All;
My grandfather Rhodenizer served in the Royal Canadian Air Force as a radar operator in World War II, and he left me with two neat anecdotes from his time in service.
The first one comes from either training or when he was based in the United Kingdom. He was posted on guard duty one evening, and was issued a bayonet and a rifle, however, he was not issued any live ammunition. The standard challenge that was used was " Who goes there?" and if it was not responded to the second challenge was " Stop or I will shoot!" He, of course, was a bit of a smarty pants, so on the second challenge was quickly changed to "Stop or I will s**t!". This didn't go over well with one of the officers who was returning to the base late one evening!
The second one comes from when he was transferred to India which he blamed on being of Germanic descent and working on radar. The first night on the ground, they were sleeping in tents on the side of an airfield and through the night the sounds of tigers were heard all around the encampment. Rather than giving a marauding Japanese plane a ground reference point, the minimal lighting was left off and the foot patrols were increased. He drew a Sten gun from stores and spent the night sat up on his cot, wondering if he was going to make it. The next morning, they awaken to find a circus had set up next to the encampment overnight!
While they sound like a stretch to me, they surely seem plausible given the circumstances of the time!
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