The NAAFI
A NAAFI van visited our base camp from time to time with supplies of shaving soap, razor blades and letter pads etc. Being on active service we did not have to pay postage on our letters home. I believe that the army postal service in Korea did a very good and important job. All our NAAFI items had to be paid for. A small stock was kept in the two-man sergeant’s bunker.
We all had an allowance of two bottles of beer a day, produced in Japan by the Kirin and Asahi Companies. Naturally, the six AP members were not allowed theirs, but were kept for when they returned to camp. The wooden boxes in which the bottles were delivered were highly prized and utilised for a number of uses. Some used them to give a degree of home comfort by shielding the earth wall adjacent to your bunk. Pits were dug under bottom bunks and used to store beer bottles, covering the pit with beer crate wood
The beer issue was meant to be drunk sensibly on a daily basis but this was not always done, with some being added to those being reserved for when the AP party returned and a bunker party would be held the following evening. Each living bunker had a small slit trench dug close to its entrance, and many a time we missed a colleague after going to the latrine, only to find him singing away at the bottom of the trench!
The officers tended to turn a blind eye to this type of celebration as none of them ever did AP duties, but recognised the effect it could have. These were great times for us as we were under strict instructions never to remove our boots when at the front defence line. Off duty we would loosen the laces to help the blood flow.
I have since learnt that both the pilot and observer parachuted safely to ground, unfortunately behind the Chinese lines and were taken prisoner.