Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

BEHIND THE LINES OF EL ALAMEIN
THE story of Alamein and of Tel el Elsa been told in the cables, and correspondents have underlined the heroic role of the A. I..F. when they there met and hurled back Rommel's best and sent the Eighth Army racing ahead for Tunisia.
But there is another story that has only been told in fragments, and then not completely-worth telling though it is. It the be-hind-the-lines story of the men who were wounded in the battle. Here is another addition to the full tale.
"Late in the afternoon of the second day of the offensive," writes Lance Corporal G. H. Lochran to his mother, Mrs. Lochran, Ferry-street, "I was hit twice, in the head by some sort of flying metal. So I started on my journey back to hospital at the end of two very hectic days."

"I had been hit on the fore head- a small wound healing quickly and hardly to be noticed-and just above the right ear, where the bone was fractured."

So L./Cpl. Lochran went back behind the lines, to hospital for an operation and then a few weeks later was sent on to a convalescent camp in Palestine.

Here is his picture of the camp: "Life here is very pleasant. The food is good and well-cooked, and there is little work to be done. Pictures are shown several times a week with a concert now and then. the Red Cross run an excellent small library, and -as you can guess-I spend many hours reading."

"The camp is situated near the sea-it's a pity the weather is too cold for swimming."

"Sometimes we have bridge parties." he goes on, but apparently the chief interest of the camp is war talk.
"There is much speculation, and many rumours are flying about as to what is to be the division's next destination," he says. "Naturally enough we all hope it will be home, at least for a while, but it's diflicult to forecast, and I suppose our fate will be decided by the fortunes of war."

"It's just a glimpse of a convalescent camp after Alamein, but it is one of the reasons why we shall win."

Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, Queensland, Wednesday, 17 February 1943