Blue had a skull!----In his bunker he had a skull!It was attached to a support beam and had Two wire springson the jaws and a piece of cord attached to it's chin.

We were all a little bit mad,but Blue was madder than most of us.He would talk and laugh with his "Yorrick" or was its name Horace.Blue would ask the skull questions and while tugging on the cordwould answer himself in a falsetto voice.

He obtained the skull in the thaw,when several enemy bodiessurfaced and started to rot in the semi warm weather.After a few days of cleansing and a bit of sunshine the skull wasready for Blue to give it a good home.

Blue would often put a cigarette in the skull's mouth by gently pulling onthe cord and inserting the cigarette. He said the skull preferred Camels orLucky Strike which were a part of our C rations.

Now and again we wouldhave some New Zealand gunners come up to the front to see what the weatherwas like and sometimes they would accompany us on a night patrol(unofficially of course) After one such visit by some Kiwis,the skulldisappeared and Blue raging, threatened to flatten any Kiwi he seen in theimmediate future.

The skull was definitely stolen by the Kiwis as it waslater spotted on the bonnet (hood) of a New Zealand artillery unit's Jeep,Wearing an Aussie slouch hat