Page 66 - Kol Bogrei Habonim - Winter 20

AN UNUSUAL FIRST prostitute, you had to report it in a special
book and appear for treatment the next day.
JOURNEY TO ISRAEL
I was not much interested in Cyprus but very
HENRY FONER much wanted to go to Israel. This was strictly
forbidden by the army (at least for Other
Ranks), but I found out there was an Italian

ship of the Adriatica line that had a service
from Larnaca to Haifa. So, I had my passport

sent to me in Egypt and applied for leave in
Cyprus. One had to give them an address and
I think I told them I was touring the island.

We flew from Fayid to Cyprus in a military
plane and I immediately went to Nicosia,
I I where I had a friend stationed in Wolseley
n the summer of 1954, I found myself a
Barracks. I left my uniform with him, and
British soldier serving in the Canal Zone
then changed into civilian clothes and
in Egypt. I had been on Hachshara at the
David Eder farm when my summons to an disappeared from H.M.’s eyes. I spent a day
army medical came. As someone who had or two in Cyprus and went to Famagusta to
been on the Kindertransport and whose life see Othello’s Tower. It was a lovely town
had been saved by the British, I felt morally with small boats sailing in and out of the
obliged to enlist instead of going at once on harbour.
Aliyah and legally avoiding the army.

I served in Egypt (the Canal Zone), then
Sudan and once again in Egypt. The Canal
Zone was a dreadful place: hot, dry, and
dangerous and with nothing to do in the way
of entertainment. There was no home leave
except for compassionate cases, but after a
year or so one could go on leave to Cyprus,
where there were special holiday camps for
the military. The main attractions of Cyprus
were the freedom to wander about the island
without being shot or knifed, and the access
to women. There were 80,000 troops and
only about 800 women in the Canal Zone.
When you left the holiday camps you were
forced to take a prophylactic kit with soap,
condoms etc. If you had been with a

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