Pick Up Your Parrots Nd Monkeys The Life Of A Boy Soldier In India By
William Pennington

Product Description

Pick up your parrots & monkeys, & fall in facing the boat' was the traditional last order given to a detachment of British soldiers heading home from India. William Pennington first heard it from the 'old salts' he met on the docks as he arrived in India at the age of 15. Joining up at the tender age of 14, William had been intrigued by the army's promise of adventure & glory, & by the chance to see the most exotic corners of the world. After training at the Boy's Depot in Woolwich, he became a bugler in the horse artillery, & was posted to India in the 1930s, where life was little changed from the days of Kipling. Within years however, the British would accept the end of the Raj & leave India forever. After a brief recall to Britain, Pennington was posted to Burma as a forward observation officer at the very forefront of the action against the Japanese. It was for this role in this devastating campaign that he was to win the Military Cross for bravery in the battlefield.