Spectacles, Testicles, Fags and Matches

Your Servicing Commando has certainly put up a great show, and it made me feel particularly proud since, as I told you, I am more of less the 'father' of the Servicing Commandos. (Lord) Louis Mountbatten, 24 January 1945, (writing to Fenton) Spectacles, testicles, fags and matches was a ritual used by Servicing Commandos after doing anything they called 'hairy'. It was a completely non-religious act, but strangely comforting. From the jungles of Burma to the foggy plains of Germany, the RAF Servicing Commandos were the men who kept the most advanced aircraft of the RAF flying. Yet there has been very little written about them. Historians, up to today, are surprised to learn of their existence and astonished to learn of their activities. But without those Units the RAF would have had great difficulty in providing close cover for the forward troops. Without them, the fighter planes would have spent less time in action, destroying the strong points and tanks of a determined enemy. These elite Units serviced and maintained, re-armed and re-fuelled, repaired and recovered the front line aircraft on which so much depended, and did it all immediately behind the most forward troops. Fully trained in the techniques of Combined Operations they could land from the seas on any hostile territory and establish new airstrips almost instantaneously. They are, surprisingly, the Forgotten Men. This is their story told by the men themselves. A personal journey Untold story of some of the heroes of the war Of interest to: * Historians, both amateur and professional; People interested in World War II; War veterans