Memories of Service 3 - George Shadbolt

I was a corporal. That was the best job in the army because you were low enough down not to take any responsibility, and high enough up to be able to give orders and not be argued with.

– George Shadbolt

As we were travelling north we were looking out the windows and said 'good Lord, look at that lightning, that must be a hell of a thunder storm up there.' And we could hear the rumble. After a little while the train stopped and the officers came along and said 'everybody out' … in the meantime we discovered what the lightning and thunderstorm was. It was a barrage of the front line.

– George Shadbolt

That involved me driving as close as I could to the battlefield, in the jeep, trailing out cable behind me from this control office, passing it from one truck to another, hooked up high, or up through trees. Or if necessary crawling through a drain... and eventually I would crawl up to the tank. And I would bang on the tank … and they would open the trap and I would pass the cable through and they would connect it to the telephone that was in the tank.

– George Shadbolt on one of his most dangerous wartime tasks