Farewell to the 6th Ugandan Field Ambulance
Though it was not without its mishaps, Morris Hirsch enjoyed his last lorry journey through mountainous northern Abyssinia, on the tar macadamized, accurately graded roads built by the Italians since 1936.
Morris had saved the 2/3rd KAR from dying from heatstroke in the roads of the port at Massawa. In spite of his superior Captain Boles, he had persuaded the OC to bring the rank and file up from the holds onto the decks of the HMS Salween but not before three soldiers had died and he had taken ill himself.
He had managed the flood of wretched Italian POW's and casualties at the fall of Gondar as the sole functioning medical officer in 'B' Company. He'd weathered the storm arising from his indiscreet disclosure of the drunken non-performance of the major nominally in charge of 'B' Company.
Both emergencies had arisen ultimately from the unwise subordination of the South African doctors. After his dressing down by the OC, Col. Cowan, he'd quietly invited him to join his practice in Nairobi after the war. (After the war Morris traveled to Nairobi at the invitation of Col. Cowan only to find that his bête noire, Captain Neville, who had replaced the major as second in command, and 'B' Company commander, had already been accepted as a partner in Col. Cowan's practice.)
The scenic wonderland of steep fertile valley troughs and towering escarpments endured in his memory.
His destination was Addis Ababa, 750 miles south. He and the Three Musketeers looked forward to orders to return to South Africa. But there was time for a little cricket with the locals along the way near Adua.
The historical novel Whitewashed Jacarandas and its sequel Full of Possibilities are both available on Amazon as paperbacks and eBooks.
These books are inspired by Diana's family's experiences in small town Southern Rhodesia after WWII.
Dr. Sunny Rubenstein and his Gentile wife, Mavourneen, along with various town characters lay bare the racial arrogance of the times, paternalistic idealism, Zionist fervor and anti-Semitism, the proper place of a wife, modernization versus hard-won ways of doing things, and treatment of endemic disease versus investment in public health. It's a roller coaster read.
References:
Excerpt from Dr. Morris Isaac Hirsch's Unpublished Memoirs. Hirsch Archives.
Photo Credits: Hirsch Archives