An unfunny tale
Spike’s younger brother Desmond also got called up
to fight in World War Two.
"I caught the tail end of the War, and a pretty tough
tail end it was, too.
"I didn’t know what was happening to Spike in
Germany until he wrote his war memoirs. And I think the
war memoirs tell you more or less what he did… far
better than I can, because I wasn’t there."
Desmond Milligan
Desmond recognises Spike’s ability to 'embellish'
his stories.
"He was a great one for embroidering the truth. He
liked to flower things up a bit, and pull people’s
legs, and make it funny! But of course he doesn’t
tell you the really bad moments. He told me several of them,
which he didn’t include in the book because they weren’t
funny!"
Desmond Milligan
Once, his tank was shot to pieces and Spike, an officer
and their driver had to flee to a nearby ditch.
"The ditch was full of water... there was no way they
could move, the machine guns were covering them, and he
said, 'thank God it was summer, because otherwise we would
have frozen to death'."
Desmond Milligan
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