Pick up your Parrots and Monkeys... by William Pennington

Pick up your Parrots and Monkeys... by William Pennington

'Pick up your parrots and monkeys, and fall in facing the boat' was the traditional last order given to a detachment of British soldiers heading home from India. William Pennington heard it from the 'old salts' he met on the docks as he arrived in India at the age of 15. Enlisted as a 'boy soldier', a bugler in the horse artillery, he served in the 1930s when the British Army in India was little changed from that described by Kipling. Pennington's compelling description of army life in the last days of the Raj is followed by an equally moving account of his experiences in the Burma campaign. Promoted from the ranks, he fought the Japanese as an artillery officer, specialising in forward observation: the most dangerous job in the jungle.

Fourteen-year-old Bill Pennington enlisted in the British Army as a trumpeter in the 1st Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery. At fifteen, he was on active service on the North-West Frontier. After serving in India, France, Belgium, Burma, Germany and England, he was demobbed in 1946. He married Enid in 1946 and emigrated to Canada in 1951, where he lives to this day. He started writing this book at the age of seventy-seven.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780753817834
ISBN 10	0753817837
Title	Pick up your Parrots and Monkeys...
Author	William Pennington
Series	Cassell Military Paperbacks Ser
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Orion Publishing Co
Year published	2004-04-01
Number of pages	352
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.