Sexual order and consequences

In 1944 or possibly earlyish 1945 my father, George Cawkwell, was leading his platoon through the Far Eastern jungle during the bitter war against Japan. So, for the night, he came across a ridge in the jungle and instructed his men to dig in. Once settled they rendered:

There was a fellow called Skinner

Who invited a young lady to dinner.

At Half past Nine they sat down to dine

And, by Ten, it was in her - the dinner not Skinner.

In the morning they went on their way only, a few days later, to return to where they had spent the aforementioned night. This time they had a look over the top of the ridge to find that Japanese soldiers with carbines at the ready had been waiting for them all the while just ten yards over the ridge and dug in to their foxholes.

Events developed such that Enola Gay and her mates took a pivotal role and caused Japan to surrender. This was just as well given that had they not surrendered the allies would have encountered intense resistance generated by the allies having to approach Japan by clearing island after island. It might then have been the case that I would never have been born.

In 1995 Emperor Hirohito came to University College Oxford and my father showed him around. My father did not refer to his time in the Far East. He could occasionally be tactful.