My Great Uncle
was a Desert Rat in world war 2 - part of the 7th Armoured Division.

Whilst he was out there, their location was to be kept top secret at all times, so before he went he bought a map of the world and over each of the countries in Africa he drew a different number of kisses "xxx".

Then, whilst he was on tour, he would send postcards back to his Mum with a correlating number of kisses identifying where abouts in the world he was so she could keep track of his progress and know he was safe.

The desert rats were a mean bunch of bastards. They kicked the Italians out of Africa during the war, then later on the Germans, as well as fighting in Normandy and ending out the war pushing the German armoured divisions back across Europe. It makes me proud to know members of my family were involved.
( PMGT -Bacon., Thu 31 May 2012, 19:01, 3 replies)

My Grandad
was also one of those.

He was a tiny little bloke, but a tough fucker.
(username failed moderation, Fri 1 Jun 2012, 9:16, closed)

So was mine
He was a sniper in 12th SS Panzer, and had a Mauser with rows of little rats painted on the stock. I asked him once what they meant...
(Rsoles, Fri 1 Jun 2012, 10:31, closed)

My Grandfather too!
I have his binoculars from the war
( SauronWibble I'll hold it, you lick it..., Fri 1 Jun 2012, 16:29, closed)