Would like my DAD to hold a Lee Enfield No.4Mk1(T) after 70 years

[enfield303t]

Cass and I visited Sandy today and despite him fighting a cold he was in great spirits and we had our usual conversation on everything from poaching to sniping. We all had some great laughs, hope you think things are as funny as we did.

Sandy talked about being a sniper and again stressed how important camouflage was, without it done properly you are dead for sure, just a matter of time.

Poaching again was talked about it detail, Sandy saying he was taught by his father and it was necessary to survive. The local policeman Bill Morgan always tried to catch Sandy knowing he was poaching so one day when Sandy's dad told him they were going that day with Bill Morgan there was great surprise. How funny going poaching with the policeman that was always trying to catch you, quite ironic. Sandy's dad told him to not say anything to Bill, just let it go and poach with him.

As mentioned before they used a cleek to catch salmon. One night Sandy's dad told them there was a abundance of salmon in the river and that he should go out with Alec Hardy to get some fish. Knowing Bill the local policeman would be looking for poachers Sandy suggested they cross the river and work upstream as there is no way that Bill would wade across the river to get to them. As the approached where they intended to catch fish they had to slide down a concrete angled wall that was there to prevent erosion. Now Sandy told us you always held the cleek by the hook when you did this however Alec failed to do this so when he jumped into the creek at the bottom of the wall he put the cleek thru his waders, boot and into his foot. This was really serious as Sandy was only about 14 and Alec was his fathers age and much larger. Alec eventually with the help of Sandy worked his way out of the creek and up the wall to the trail above. Sandy then had to carry Alec about 100 yards to their house where upon examination they realized they had a serious issue. When Sandy cut off his waders and boot he noticed a black mark around the cleek but no bleeding, he told his dad to give him a razor and he cut a incision into the foot to allow it to bleed. This action probably saved Alec's life as later the doctor said without that quick action he probably would have had serious blood poisoning. Sandy's dad took a full bottle of whiskey, gave it to Alec and told him to start drinking it.

The decision was made to go get the doctor, Sandy left to do that and said it was such a dark night he had a difficult time trying to find the doctors house. When he knocked on the door the servant (female) answered the door and asked what he wanted. He told her Alec Hardy had stepped on a cleek and they needed the doctor to remove it. This was too much information as soon it was all over town what happened and one didn't have any problem realizing that Alec was poaching.

When the doctor arrived he realized there was no way to pull out the cleek so seeing as Sandy's dad had removed it from the handle it would be best to push it thru his foot. By this time Alec had consumed all but a few ounces of the whiskey and felt no pain during the removal. Guess there is a good time to be absolutely "drunk as a skunk".

From conversations it is pretty evident Sandy was always a very good marksman so I asked him how he was picked to be a sniper? Sandy was in the Territorial Army and the Battallion RSM Tommy A. who was from his home town knew Sandy was a prolific poacher and good shot so he recommended him for the position. Sandy trained to be a sniper with the Lovat Scouts in mountains in Wales. The Lovat Scouts are famous and there is no doubt that this training helped hone his skills. Here is a link if you want to know more about them.
Lovat Scouts

We ended today's visit with one of the funniest stories ever in my opinion.

Sandy told us after the war there were many beautiful women in Germany and a lack of males, countless being killed during the war and countless others in POW camps. He said for as little as a chocolate bar you could willingly have the company of the most beautiful girl as the Germans were short of everything including men. Now there is a lady (German) where Sandy lives who is 87 years old and he was telling her about what you could get for a chocolate bar and somehow this 87 year old lady thought 94 year old Sandy was propositioning her for sex. When in Germany Sandy learned enough of the language to be able to ask a lady if she would go to bed with him and he was relating this to this local lady. She is so upset she won't talk to him anymore and won't even take his phone calls. I don't think any of us including Sandy have laughed so hard in years, that is beyond funny. Sandy related "what was she thinking, I am 94 and she thinks I want to sleep with her"? You just had to be there!

OH ONE MORE BEAUTY!

Every year a circus of sorts would visit Sandy's home town of Newcastleton and there was always a contest to pick the most beautiful young girl and handsome young man. Well one time Alec Hardy's daughter was picked as the most beautiful young lady and Sandy picked as the most handsome young man. Sandy said it was only appropriate to take this young lady for a walk so they went up the path to a large field of tall grass. Apparently things were going "very well" when suddenly this young lady's uncle almost stepped on the two of them lying in the grass. Sandy said he never heard the uncle coming as he would always walk in the grass beside the gravel path as he said the gravel wore the soles of his boots out too quickly. Nothing is more Scottish than walking off a path to save the soles of your boots.....yes we laughed so hard about this story. Sandy still is a real character with a great memory.