MRS. JEANIE CLARKE
World War II Camping
My first experience of camping took place during the Second World War, in the South of England. We were ordered to pitch under trees for camouflage from enemy aircraft but during the late afternoon a storm blew up. Because of the more imminent danger of being struck by lightning we all had to re-pitch - out in the open!
Being the young, rather disobedient sister of the Camp Commandant, I had not been very speedy in getting my patrol organised for bed. Fortunately, for us, our bedding rolls were still tightly secured in groundsheets when torrential rains flooded through the camp. All the others were thoroughly soaked and had retire to the barn for the night. When the rain eased a little, we heard a weird war-chant coming from over the hill, from the direction of the Scout Camp nearby. Then ghostly apparitions in swimming trunks, with hatchets over their shoulders appeared - and very politely asked if they could help by trenching our tents. We gratefully accepted, and were soon able to retire comfortably in a nice dry tent!
We noticed one small Scout wearing white(?) tennis shoes although the water was well over his ankles. Iasked him why he did so.
"My Mum told me to keep my feet dry," he replied. "At least I can truthfully say I tried"
We spent the next hour or two with feet to the centre pole, holding on to the brailing to keep the tent from blowing away, but we did manage to be sound asleep when the rest emerged from the barn next morning, most envious of our adventures.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
