Those Men We Liked To Hate.

[rubberguts]

  I think most of us formed pre-conceived notions whether an NCO or other was a good sort or a complete *rse*le, based solely on what others told us.
 One such unfortunate was a newly arrived ERE Tank Corps Joker serving out his twilight army duty years as the Officers Mess Sergeant where I cooked. We took an instant dislike to the bloke especially as his predecessor had been a  genial accommodating type and rumor had it, so was his wife.
My Opinion of him changed to that of hero when a newspaper article recounting the dessert campaign displayed a photo of a tank at the top of a high pass. The Sergeant proudly recounted to us his story, saying his tank was the first to the top of the pass in the photo during Rommel's retreat. No mean feat, I think, when it was not known if the road up had been set with mines or there were tanks waiting at the top.