Mico Alvo with fellow soldiers in Cairo

One day in Cairo we took a picture together with some black soldiers.

These were soldiers that served in the Allied Forces and were stationed in Cairo. In Cairo you could see people from at least ten different nations.

Our first training was in Gaza. We stayed there for four months. When we were done with all this, they started asking us who wanted to go as a volunteer to fly, to go to the air force.

I was the first one who went to register. But to do so, you had to go to Helioupolis, a place at the outskirts of Cairo. This is where the medical offices of the English were.

There they would put you through a very thorough health check, especially on the eyes. They would reject two out of three candidates, because of their eye sight. But until it was our turn, we had to wait for around 15-20 days in Cairo.

They had put us in a unit there. We would go from Cairo to Helioupolis by train. Cairo was international at the time. And one could see there Greeks, many Cypriots, Yugoslavians, Polish, Canadians, people from all around the world.

There were many from New Zealand and Australia. Thankfully, I passed my exams and I was judged to be suitable. They told me, "now you will wait for your turn to be sent to Rhodesia".

Photos from this interviewee