ReadersDigestAustraliaNewZealand-April2018

April• 2018 | 115

READER’S DIGEST

months of World War II. “I reckon
you can use it more than me, now,” he
said. I was reluctant to accept Ern’s
cherished cap, but he sent it to me
soon afterwards.
Now, nine years later, I hoped to re-
turn the cap to Ern and see about giv-
ing it to the Australian War Memorial.
I call the phone number in Geelong
that I’d dialled years earlier. After a
few rings, a man answers. It’s Ern, who
conirms he is very much alive. We ar-
range for me to interview him two days
later. Not long after, Lizzie Campbell,
Ern’s carer, calls me to check who I am.

Ern has no problem remembering the
cap, but he can’t remember giving it to
me. hese days, Lizzie explains, such
memories can elude him.
WhenIcallhimbackasplanned,
Ernhashadtimetolickthroughhis
book. Details of his time in Tobruk
andCroatiaareclearer.“Howthehell
didweevergetthroughit?”heasks
meinawaveringvoice.
While in Tobruk, fear wasn’t part of
Ern’s thinking “A lot of them used to
sweat it out,” he recalls. “hey had a
terrible time. I didn’t care. I was walk-
ing around as if I owned the place.”

When I press him for more infor-

mationaboutthecapandBorisPuks,

hismemoryissketchy.Ernremem-

bers that the cap belonged to Puks,

thathewasaCroatianPartisanand

that Puks gave him the cap as a ges-

ture of thanks. hat’s where it stops.

“No, I don’t remember,” he tells me.

“When you’re young, you learn some-

thingandyoushoveitaside.”

More questions about the cap

eventuallyjoghismemory.“Iusedto

putabigwhiteturkeyfeatherinit,”

hesayswithalaugh.

After the war, Ern returned to

countryVictoriaandresumedwork

as a butcher. They were difficult

times. Shell-shocked and damaged,

adjusting to peacetime wasn’t easy.

Hefelt“wildontheinside”andat

times resorted to ighting and drink-

ing.“Allan,EricandIhadlivedlike

dogs,” he writes inDangerous Days.

“Everydayhadbeenadangerousday,

everyshadowapossiblepredator.We

survived on instinct, so it was always

goingtobediiculttoslipbackinto

a civilised world.”

Getting the images of war out of

his head was hard and Ern believes

“WESURVIVEDONINSTINCT,SOITWAS

ALWAYS GOING TO BE DIFFICULT TO SLIP

BACK INTO A CIVILISED WORLD”