This is an entry in a year-long project to post-blog the demobilisation experience for British servicemen at the end of the Second World War. See here for an introduction to the project and here for a brief overview of the demobilisation process.
"Officers and civilian friends congratulated a captain in the Royal Engineers renowned as a guerrilla and sabotage expert in Greece after he stepped from the dock at Lampeter Assizes," reports the News of the World:
Just previously a jury ... unanimously found 28-year-old William Killick not guilty of four charges arising out of a shooting incident with a Sten gun at a bungalow at Newquay.
Describing events on March 6, Mr. Dylan Thomas, a writer, aged 30, said ... that he and two friends, one of which was Miss Fanya Fisher, went to a hotel in Newquay. He and Miss Fisher were collaborating on a film script. At the hotel he saw Captain Killick, whom he had known for two years. Miss Fisher resented a remark which she overheard the captain make about Russia, and said she wanted to leave.
"We went to another hotel," said Mr. Thomas, "and a little later Captain Killick appeared. There appeared to be an amicable talk between him and Miss Fisher, but later, in a passage leading to the hotel door, I saw Captain Killick slap Miss Fisher's face. I jumped on Captain Killick and Miss Fisher also helped. Others joined in."
"I returned to my bungalow and was standing telling my wife and three friends about the incident when there was a rattle of machine-gun fire and the sound of smashing glass. We all dropped to the floor ... there was another burst of firing ... bullets came into the house ... I was frightened."
"Then the front door burst open and Captain Killick appeared. He had a machine-gun in one hand and a grenade in the other ... I think we all told him not to be a fool ... he then fired a burst into the ceiling of the bungalow. Captain Killick said we were 'a lot of egoists.'"
... Mr. Justice Singleton described the case as serious and important, as many people would soon be leaving the services with a comprehensive knowledge of firearms ...
An egoist? Surely the wrong Dylan Thomas, here. And while I know it would have been a loss otherwise, I regret that Captain Killick missed his chance to prevent many, many, maudlin declamations about gently not going into good nights
Posted by: Erik Lund | Wednesday, 24 June 2009 at 01:42 PM
I believe this incident forms the background of the recent (and apparently not very good) Thomas biopic The Edge of Love
Posted by: Alan Allport | Wednesday, 24 June 2009 at 04:28 PM