Item 04: Memoirs of a Colonial Boy by Robert Joseph Stewart, ca. 1971 - Page 317
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[Page 317]
156
At Kut al Amara we bluffed our way on to the river boat that connected with the railhead at Amara on the other side of the river, found ourselves another Box-car on the evening train to Basra, and arrived there late on the following afternoon. Having no proper movement documents we had to run the gauntlet of the Railway Transport Officer and his minions, but finally reached the officers' depot in the old Turkish barracks nearby where we were received without question. The big cabin trunk of one of my companions was missing when we got off the train at Basra. Evidently Arab thieves had quietly opened the door in the dead of night, extracted his trunk and shut the door again without alerting us: the Arabs were notoriously clever thieves, particularly in stealing rifles from the troops.
Basra was congested with officers and men all clamouring impatiently to be embarked on one of the few ships going down to Bombay and thence to Britain. My erstwhile comrades in Dunsterforce apparently got away without much delay, for I didn't catch up with any of them. I was held ten weeks in Basra until my final accounts from Persia were audited and passed in Poona, the main accounting centre in India. The native clerks there were not paid a fixed salary, but only a small sum for every observation they could raise or fault they could find. As a result they took their time in going through accounts with a "fine-tooth comb".
While cooling my heels in Basra I got word that I had received a Mention in General Marshall's Dispatches for my services in Persia.
In the meantime, the inactive meaningless life in Basra drove me to distraction and nearly to drink. But the great day came when I was allowed to board the British India ship "Elephanta" and make the four-day voyage down the Gulf to Bombay, where I spent two interesting days, staying at one of the top hotels, before travelling by train for two full days right across the peninsular to Calcutta. It was a very hot journey across brown burnt-up plains, the only relief being the fanning of the big punkahs pulled by Indian boys (punkah