91Èȱ¬

'El Alamein Club
Visitors Book
Please sign your name,
regiment, corps or R.A.F unit
and home town only.
You may find names of many
friends herein who, unknown to
you, are in the Middle East.'
(Sign above book pictured in bottom right insert)

This book was used by soldiers and airmen stationed in Cairo to leave their mark so that others would know they had been there. The Alamein Club was built for the British armed forces by the Egyptian government in 1943 to show their appreciation of the 8th Army and Desert Air Forces defence of Egypt against the Afrika Korps in WWII. Here the men could relax and enjoy all manner of facilities including sports pitches, swimming pool, band stand and library.

This object brings to life the wide range of people from all over the Empire who served their country and even how some of them felt. A couple of examples are a poem of remembrance and a disgruntled ''fighting soldier'' who has scrawled ''BASE WALLAHS'' over one of the pages (a piece of slang which entered the British Armys vocabulary during their occupation of India).