'Rommel?' 'Gunner Who?' Quotes

“Keep talking Milligan. I think I can get you out on Mental Grounds.’ ‘That’s how I got in, sir.’ ‘Didn’t we all.”
― Spike Milligan, 'Rommel?' 'Gunner Who?': A Confrontation in the Desert

“It’s a dark night, a heavy dew; the order rings from the Tannoy Speaker. ‘Fire.’ Daddy Wilson echoes ‘Fire!’ A colossal roar, gunners lean away to avoid the blast, some with hands over ears, the earth shakes, the momentum of the crew carried them automatically to put another shell in, to discover the great gun was missing. They stood, nit-like, poised for action. ‘The bloody thing’s gone.’ It had indeed, bouncing backwards, over a cliff and crashing 50 feet below, just missing the tent of a sleeping Gunner Secombe of 321 Bty, 132 Field Regt. Like the Nazarene, the Sergeant, carrying an oil lamp was given to going among 25 Pounder gunners ‘and he sayeth “Blessed are they that have seen 7.2?” “What colour was it?” And he hitteth them.”
― Spike Milligan, 'Rommel?' 'Gunner Who?': A Confrontation in the Desert

“Outside a seedy white Gendarmerie, an unshaven seedy off-white gendarme slumbered in a chair. ‘He’s pretending there isn’t a war on,’ said Mr Budden. I shouted ‘Ai Meisu! le Gendarme? Où est la Guerre Mondiale Nombre Deux?’ He pointed up the road. ‘Avante siese mille kilo.’ He grinned and fell back to sleep.”
― Spike Milligan, 'Rommel?' 'Gunner Who?': A Confrontation in the Desert

“Temperatures fluctuated. You went to sleep on a warm evening, by dawn it dropped to freezing. We had to break our tents with hammers to get out. Dawn widdles caused frost bitten appendages, the screams! ‘Help, I’m dying of indecent exposure!’ We solved the problem. I stuffed my Gas cape with paper and made a mattress. Gunner Forest wrapped old Daily Mirrors round his body, ‘I always wanted to be in the News,’ he said, and fainted. Others dug holes to accommodate hips and shoulders.”
― Spike Milligan, 'Rommel?' 'Gunner Who?': A Confrontation in the Desert

“Any room for one more?’ I said. ‘Sorry old boy, this is a one-man trench.’ I dived in head first as fresh shells landed. ‘Well now it’s a bloody two-man trench.’ I tell you! They are willing to let you die rather than move over! The shelling stopped. I got out and returned to duty – more shells – I found a small depression in the lee of some rocks. ‘Where are you,’ shouted a voice. ‘I’m in a depression,’ I said. ‘Aren’t we all,’ was the reply.”
― Spike Milligan, 'Rommel?' 'Gunner Who?': A Confrontation in the Desert

“Is it because with the future unknown, the present traumatic, that we find the past so secure?”
― Spike Milligan, 'Rommel?' 'Gunner Who?': A Confrontation in the Desert

“It's not often we had been detailed to: -
'Clean up that mess of French Colonial Piano”
― Spike Milligan, 'Rommel?' 'Gunner Who?': A Confrontation in the Desert

“runner-cum-slave”
― Spike Milligan, 'Rommel?' 'Gunner Who?': A Confrontation in the Desert