Beyond the military and civilian operations carried out by the 6^th Airborne Division during their time in Palestine (1945-1948), the paratroopers were also involved in a wide variety of daily entertainment and leisure activities. This more human side of life as a paratrooper is often overlooked, but through peeling back the layers, a more well-rounded and deeper understanding of life in the Army appears. From lace-making and horse-racing, to watching films and playing football, here below is a short guide to entertainment in the 6^th Airborne Division in Palestine.

• Horse Racing
• Horse shows and horse races were organised throughout Palestine, for example in Nazareth and Sarafand (modern-day Tzrifin), and competitions ranged from traditional equestrian disciplines such as tentpegging, jumping, and racing, to other contests such as musical chairs, which likely involved riding horses around a circuit and racing to a certain point in the centre of the circuit when the music stopped. Prizes in the 1946 Pegasus Club Horse Show went as high as £P5 (5 Palestinian Pounds), which would approximately amount to £183 today! Selected from our archive and see below pages from a 3^rd PARA Bn horse racing card in Nazareth, a timetable from a 1946 equestrian competition in Sarafand, and a cartoon featured on the first volume of the Pegasus Journal.

• Boxing
• The Paras have been long known for their proficiency in boxing, and so too was the case during their stationing in Palestine, which saw them involved regularly. In the 1947/1948 Army Individual Boxing Championship in Sarafand, paratroopers were involved in 8 of the 11 total bouts, and won in 4 of the 7 total contested classes. Sgt. Jim Andrews, who was a prolific boxer, was awarded the title of Middleweight Champion, a Sgt. Arnold the title of Lightheavyweight Champion, a Pte. Baird Welterweight Champion, and a L/Cpl Fulker Heavyweight Champion. See below from our archive a picture of Sgt. Andrews (known here as Andy), a cartoon strip including him, and the Title Page from the 1947 Palestine Command Army Individual Boxing Championship.

• Other Sports
• Other sports, such as rugby, hockey, athletics, football… were also popular with the Paras. There was even an Army-Navy Boat Race organised! Divisional Sports Competitions were held each year and included a wide variety of activities. Highlights from the archive include a team sheet from a 1945 football match between the 2 PARA Bde. XI and the Gaza and District League XI, with each team seemingly lining up in the classic 2-3-5 formation that was popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Also from the archive and shown below is a score sheet from an athletics tournament that involved the Paras, including events such as hammer throwing, shot putting, and baton relays.

• Going to the Cinema
• The Army Kinema Corporation put on British or American films in different cinemas in military camps to entertain paratroopers and other soldiers in Palestine. These were films noirs with a focus on suspense and crime, but the selected rotation also consisted of genres like romance and documentary, most notably including the 1946 British war film, Theirs is the Glory, which recounted the 1^st Airborne Division’s experiences at the Battle of Arnhem. Films also starred popular actors such as Van Johnson, Bette Davis, Margaret Lockwood, and Olivia de Haviland.
• Denis Edwards (2 OBLI) recalls that though the cinema was popular, the conditions in the cinema in a transit camp in Egypt were interesting – “To get into the camp cinema meant being outside at least 2 hours before the film was due to be shown and then pay 3 Piastas as entry fee. Once inside, the rows of iron seats were so close together it was impossible to sit straight into the chair without banging knees against the row in front. As all seats were at the same level, if two or three tall men occupied the seats in front you just did not see the films, but were able to follow the sound track! Even when you could actually see the screen, it was shrouded by a thick haze of tobacco smoke. Once seated you had no option but to stay put until the show was over.”

• Travel and Visits
• So too, was travelling popular with the Paras. Holiday camps were organised by NAAFI, and amongst the archive we have photos of officers at Lone Palm Holiday Camp near Alexandria in Egypt, and meal tickets from Golden Sands Holiday Camp near Famagusta in Cyprus. These places the Paras would have visited while on R&R (rest and recreation). Furthermore, prior to 1948, sightseeing trips to places such as Jericho, Bethlehem, and Nazareth were organised and as Major R.D. Wilson noted, “aroused much interest.” Attached below are Cpl. G.C.B. Weir’s photos of him and others while in Samaria “on a tour of religious locations.”
• G.C.B. Weir’s Guide Map of Jerusalem is also in our archive, and details places of interest for visitors, from a list of hotels, to where the Garrison Club and Restaurant would have been. This detailed map gives us further information as to what the Paras might have had accessed whilst in Jerusalem, such as the Tel-Or Cinema off King George Avenue, or the Gift Shop off St Julian’s Way. See below as well from the archive, photos Cpl. Weir took of Jerusalem, in which some places still exist today!

• Bathing
• But above all, as Major R.D. Wilson noted in his book Cordon and Search, “bathing was one of the blessings of Palestine.” Not all paratroopers would have been available to participate in the activities mentioned above, but bathing remained extremely popular amongst the troops, especially given the constant heat and sandiness of the region. Bathing, however, was not without its dangers, as a small number of troops drowned each year because of treacherous currents. Nevertheless, we are lucky to have in our Archive a photo of Private Leslie Jenner swimming with friends in Palestine, and Cpl. G.C.B. Weir’s photo of swimming pools in Sarafand and RAF Aqir (near modern-day Rehovot).

Thus, the Paras did take part in a wide range of recreational activities while in Palestine, from exceptional visits to historical and religious monuments, to more everyday prosaic pleasures such as bathing and swimming. For more information, do refer to the photos below and Major R.D. Wilson’s book, Cordon and Search, for his first-hand account of what life in Palestine was like.

Written and researched by Raphael Tsang