3RAR Group returning to unit, January 1952

3RAR group returning to unit: January 1952
L to R:
Unknown; Chas Scholl; Vince Gilligan; Wally Brown; Jack Jameson; Paddy Shambrook


THE SKULL
Courtesy of Vince Gilligan

Blue had a skull!----In his bunker he had a skull!It was attached to a support beam and had Two wire springs on the jaws and a piece of cord attached to it's chin.

We were all a little bit mad,but Blue was madder than most of us. He would talk and laugh with his "Yorrick" or was its name Horace. Blue would ask the skull questions and while tugging on the cord would answer himself in a falsetto voice.

He obtained the skull in the thaw,when several enemy bodies surfaced and started to rot in the semi warm weather. After a few days of cleansing and a bit of sunshine the skull was ready for Blue to give it a good home.

Blue would often put a cigarette in the skull's mouth by gently pulling on the cord and inserting the cigarette. He said the skull preferred Camels or Lucky Strike which were a part of our C rations.

Now and again we would have some New Zealand gunners come up to the front to see what the weather was like and sometimes they would accompany us on a night patrol (unofficially of course) After one such visit by some Kiwis,the skull disappeared and Blue raging, threatened to flatten any Kiwi he seen in the immediate future.

The skull was definitely stolen by the Kiwis as it was later spotted on the bonnet (hood) of a New Zealand artillery unit's Jeep, Wearing an Aussie slouch hat

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