We were sent to Palestine, to Ramallah. There we had proper beds with sheets - absolute luxury! It was not far from Jaffa where they grew the oranges and as they were unable to export them there was an absolute glut of them. They used to bring piles round to the camp and all of us had a heap on our bedside lockers. People used to invite us out for meals; Jewish people couldn’t do enough for us.
Round about that time there was an uprising in Iran so some of our chaps were sent there. I don’t know what for because we had no planes but I think it was just to show the flag; we certainly didn’t want the Iranians in the war against us.
One of our chaps who had been wounded in Greece rejoined us and he told me that while he was laying on a stretcher on the deck of a hospital ship in Piraeus harbour a Stuka dropped a bomb straight at them. It hit the rigging and exploded, slightly wounding some on deck. It appears that the Germans had no regard for the Geneva convention.
After a while we were told that there was nothing for us to do so we were sent on leave. We received another pay parade and went off to Tel Aviv. We decided to have a week there and then go to see Jerusalem, Bethlehem and all the other important places. Well after a week we were recalled so I never managed to see Palestine properly. We were told that all signal personnel were to report to Cairo. Off we went across the Suez Canal and into Cairo. When we arrived they asked us what we were doing there. When we told them they said they didn’t want us, gave us another pay parade and sent us on leave in Cairo. On completion of this leave we returned to Palestine. 
Tel Aviv
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