Here we reveal one of the often hidden experiences of war revealed by William Earl in his honest memoir ‘Blood and Bandages’.
The authors Liz Coward and William Earl (XC Photography)
We have a very nostalgic view of wartime relationships. We think of the heartwarming love letters from a guy to his gal, with his thoughts of her waiting at home in Blighty to keep his spirits high. Yet the truth of the matter is not quite as romantic or wholesome as we might think, at least not according to the memoirs of William Earl.
William and George Catchpole in Rome, August 1944
Sabrestorm’s new book Blood and Bandages recounts the wartime experiences of William who was a member of the Royal Army Medical Corps in Italy. William is still fighting fit at almost 102 years old and was able to tell Liz Coward all about his life on the front. He left behind a loving wife and a new baby when he was called up and is very honest when it comes to what soldiers got up to during their spare time.
After the horrific Battle of Anzio in 1944, William recounts that there ‘was this general feeling of “now we can really live so let’s have wine, women and song.”‘ The RAMC knew what the soldiers would get up to and supplied them with condoms before going to town. If a soldier caught any kind of venereal disease, they were to be taken out of action as if they were wounded. They were so wary of this possibility that they would supply soldiers with little tubes of mercury ointment and some permanganate of potash to wash themselves upon their return.
Upon arriving in a new town, young boys would approach the army lorries and try to convince a soldier to enjoy the charms of their ‘sisters’, while William remembers one particularly awkward occasion with his friend George, ‘We followed the boy and he took us to a house. Inside was a married woman with her husband sitting at the table and a one-year-old baby in a cot in the corner. They fell silent when we arrived. The woman took George to the bedroom and they had sex. Meantime, I talked to the woman’s husband. It was uncomfortable sitting there trying to make polite conversation while that was going on.’
William’s wife Mary while awaiting his return
The widespread poverty in war-torn Italy meant that people were desperate for any goods or money they could find, and for many women, prostitution seemed an obvious choice with all the unattached young men around. William readily admits to having made use of them and claims the only person to have not done so was his great friend Frank who was made a prisoner of war quite early on.
When William returned to England, he would even joke to his wife Mary that he didn’t want to return to Italy just yet, ‘we’d better let another few years go by. I don’t want anybody to call me Daddy’. They agreed to put the three years he was away behind them, and draw a line under it and start their relationship afresh.
Many soldiers upon returning found that their relationships were not what they thought they were. Some realised they had married because of the war and not because they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. Others felt that their partners were different people after so many years away from them. William says, ‘Remember too that thousands of Americans had come over to Britain and some had had affairs with English girls. At one of our annual reunions, one or two of our comrades said, “Oh, I got a divorce when I got back. My wife had already had two children by an American and I wasn’t going to stand for that.” I thought that was unfair because sex was a natural instinct for men and women and it didn’t take note of whether you were married or not.’
In the end, the unique situation of this all-encompassing war tested relationships more than it strengthened them. William sums up the behaviour very well, ‘I don’t care if somebody says you shouldn’t have done that when you were married, you had a wife and son. I always say possibly one in a hundred, one in a thousand men, was faithful to their girlfriend or wife at home. We were fit young men and we could be killed at any moment so conventional morals were forgotten, and we enjoyed what happiness we could whilst we were still alive.’
It clearly didn’t do William’s marriage any harm, as he enjoyed a long and loving marriage with Mary until she sadly passed away in 1986.
Liz and William show off his debut book, at the ripe old age of 101
To learn more about William’s war experiences, you can preorder Blood and Bandages from the Casemate website.
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