We it seems were forward parties and our job was to prepare space and accommodation for our Commando units when it arrived. (or if it arrived).
We were told on parade that our objective was the Vichy French port of Dakar. A raid or landing had been attempted before our arrival and had ended in fiasco.

I must tell you of one incident whilst in port. The crew were made up of R.N.V.R., Navy, merchant seamen and us 25 or so army fellows. We lined up at mealtime in a line and was usually served by a rather loud mouthed merchant seaman who always displayed his strong arm, tattooed of course and on most occasions adopted a surly attitude when serving us army chaps. He would sometimes when serving give the navy fellows bigger portions of meat etc. on the plates than us lads. Why I didn't know. He seemed to be always looking for trouble, so sure of himself

It all came to head one fine day. We had a fine well built Jewish boy in our mob, smart, always of a happy disposition and very popular. On this day in question on given short rations he asked for more, the same as the matelot next to him had been given. The server had been waiting for this, he created a scene swearing and calling the lad a Jewish bastard and such and invited him after meals to fight on the upper deck. Would our friend be able to put up a good show against this rough? We formed a large ring around the contestants and then it started. The seaman had divested himself of shoes and shirt but our lad went into action wearing his army boots, this putting him at a distinct disadvantage, he slipped around on the deck. He soon found his feet and adopting a professional stance he cut the bully to pieces. He went down twice to our fellow asking him to give in, he didn't want to hurt him anymore. The third knock down he was helped to his feet by our lad and then the evil sod tried to butt him. Anyway it taught him a lesson he would never forget. This young man lost his life later on in the landing at Salerno.