Gunner Inglorious 24563

So you've written a book said the Old Soldier.
Er - yes. That's right I said.
What's she like? asked the Old Soldier.
Well, I said, we get cracking when we crossed the wire into Libya. I have a shot at telling what its like going into action, with the heavy stuff coming over and me with the wind-up. Then we bury some Jerries - I felt pretty sad there - and so on to Sidi Rezegh.
That was pretty tough, all right, said the Old Soldier.
It sure was, I said. I got flattened there, but the Jerries picked me up three days later. Blinkin' prisoner of war.
In the bag, eh, said the Old Soldier.
Yes, I said. Over to Italy, and a year in Bari Hospital with sentries right inside the wards. That was crook. I lost a leg. There was a little Greek there, Triandifilos Lagos - half-paralysed and dumb - and an Englishman who went mad. Yeah, and a queer Pommie called 'The Turnip', who fooled the lot of us.
Go on, said the Old Soldier.
Well, from there I went to the Prisoner-of-war Camp and tried to tell what that was like; the little bits of fun we had; the tough times; the great way the Kiwis took it; the terrible hunger, and the dinkum wonderful work of Red Cross and St. John.
Uh-huh, said the Old Soldier.
Then the insanitary Wop sent me to another hospital. There, a Welshman told me the spookiest story I've heard in this war. About some knives pinched in Damascus. Sort of curse on 'em. Mighty queer story that. Then free at last - repatriated through Turkey. Finish. The end.
Read all about it, cried the Old Soldier. Very good news!
My oath, I said.
What about giving an Old Soldier a copy - buckshee? asked the Old Soldier.
Too right I will - if they print what we've been talking about.
Fair enough, said the Old Soldier.
Fair enough, I said.
- from the dust-jacket.

Gunner Inglorious - The Story of a 2nd N.Z.E.F. Prisoner of War
24563 Henderson J.H. 2nd N.Z.E.F.
Hodder and Stoughton, 1984.159 pages.