wellput phil, myself and my sisters also had boots and shoes given to us by the mail charity , even though my mother had her home destroyed by the bombing in the second world war , and my father in the army , we still had to be assessed to see if we were hard up enough to be given these boots and shoes. also percy shurmer signed my attestation papers , to enlist in the regular army , as my father would not sign them , mr shurmer did ask me was it really what i wanted, the army did me a lot of good, and as trapio says , two pair of boots and a bed ," my first bed " and 3 meals a day , and paid weekly , why wouldnt i want to join the army . rwm