We Prisoners of War by Tracy Strong

Author:Tracy Strong [Strong, Tracy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Military, United States, Europe, General, Germany, Special Forces
ISBN: 9781839741418
Google: GfTCDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
Published: 2019-12-06T16:07:23+00:00

8. A Crust Has a Flavor Unbelievable

Hunger is bad enough, but it has its compensations. The palate becomes extremely sensitive, and, to a hungry man, a crust of dry bread has a flavor unbelievable to the well-nourished. The commonest of offal is vested with a deliciousness all its own. I find it curious, however, that when the stomach is full, the recollection of previous hunger should not be carved very deeply into the memory. This is not so in the case of matters concerning bodily warmth. Far worse to me have been those occasions when I was cold—internally cold, I mean, not just superficially cold. This is a horror; and the thought of it frightens me even now as I write with the warmth of a stove full against me.

Bodily health, I have found, depends little on many of those items of personal hygiene we have always considered so important. Nothing really unpleasant seemed to happen when one didn’t have a bath for three weeks, and when the only shirt one possessed had to be worn night and day for a few months, and could he washed (even then in cold water) only on days when the sun seemed certain to be strong enough to get it dry the same day. Again, the prophesied ill effects from using dirty eating utensils did not materialize; although this, when it occurred, was generally due to laziness, for we have always had plenty of cold water, though often it was a trouble to fetch. It is also, I have discovered, a popular fallacy that tinned food must be taken out of their tins immediately they are opened.

The question of sex is a delicate one and, I feel, essentially an individual one. Speaking therefore as an individual, I find that celibacy under the present monastery-like conditions is not in any way difficult. Possibly the absence of rich food and lack of external excitements make it easier.

In other ways, the effect of the absence of women is speculative and cannot be stated without fear of controversy. I shall attempt to do no more than suggest a few lines for thought. To begin with, in this camp, we are a very peaceable and harmonious community. Would it be possible for several hundred of us to live together peacefully in continuous close proximity if our womenfolk were present? Again, we are not by any means class-conscious; we have no need to be. Yet an analysis of the civil vocations of our numbers would reveal a wide cross section of British life, ranging on the one hand from members of the Upper House of our Constitution to weekly wage earners on the other. Could even a tenth of our numbers composed of males and females achieve any like degree of class-unconsciousness? Yet again, we are all dressed pretty much alike. We don’t notice each other’s appearance; we pay no more attention to our own appearance than elementary self-respect demands, and that is not much in some cases. One and all, we should be shocked to appear in England as we are now.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.