Bullets in the bottom
Sir: Peter B. Martin’s letter (Letters, 4 October) took me back to a rain-swept moor near Catterick Camp in September, 1954. National service recruits from the 65th Training Regiment, RAC, were acting as beaters for a senior officers’ shoot. During an afternoon drive, with the light already fading, a furious shout rang out across the moor: ‘You f—–ing stupid old bastard, you’ve shot me!’ In the confusion which followed, an elderly gentleman — we were told later that he was a retired, half-blind admiral — was spirited away by his fellow guns, while we recruits were bundled into a three-tonner and driven back to Menin Lines.
Later a quantity of lead pellets were extracted from the wounded man’s backside by the MO; a welcome change from treating crab lice. No disciplinary action was taken on either side and the affair was hushed up. At that time the Army High Command was sensitive about alleged abuses of serviceman being aired in the national press. This story, a change from today’s reports of suicide at Catterick, would have been catmint to the Daily Mirror.
Anthony Mott
London W4
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