As I had accumulated three days leave I joined two others, including Devlin, on a trip to Haifa. First we got the pickup to Safed and then the bus to Haifa.

Haifa was a large city with two distinct areas, Arab and Jewish. It is the main port in Palestine and consequently has some very run-down sections as well as some extremely affluent areas. There were excellent shops and it was a pleasure to browse even if everything seemed so expensive. There were good movie houses both first run American movies in English of course. Between sightseeing movies, good restaurants and window shopping time soon past.

There was an excellent swimming pool in the Jewish area, with plenty of bikini clad young Jewish ladles, it was interesting to see the way the Arabs, with the protective way they behave with there own women, gloat over these beauties, we of course would not do that!

There were three diving boards! The highest 40 feet, from which nobody was diving. My friend Jock Higgins looked at this 40 footer and said he thought he would like to try it. He casually started to climb and as he got near the top there was a silence over the pool area and everybody got out of the pool. I half expected him to chicken out and I would not have blamed him, he looked like a speck up there. He walked to the edge and without a moments hesitation did a beautiful swallow dive, to a good deal of applause.

The last night we went to an excellent restaurant. We had a good meal; next stop was an Arab bar where they had a Belly Dancer. We decided to call it a night and return to the hotel but could not find Devlin no matter how hard we tried. We returned to the hotel hoping he would turn up.

Next morning still no Devlin, we were very concerned, as he had consumed more drink than the rest of us put together the previous night. We returned to the bar and then to the restaurant, to no avail, nobody could help. We returned to the hotel trying to decide lf we should report him missing but there was the bold Devlin as large as life, as inebriated as I have ever seen him.

He could not remember where he spent the night and in a stage whisper, confided that an Arab had offered to sell him his young sister, so he shot him. This, as you can imagine, was a shock. When asked whom he had shot he said he did not know but he must have shot someone, as his revolver was empty. I took his revolver from the holster and on examination confirmed it was indeed empty. This did not compute, a revolver would still have the empty cartridge in the chamber. On searching his pockets I discovered the six bullets. It would appear that whoever he was someone decided it was safer to remove them. In his condition it is a wonder they did not decide to keep the gun as a souvenir.

With all the goings-on we missed the bus back to Safad and consequently our ride back to Sa'Sa which meant we would be officially 'absent without leave'. This did not really concern me as the worst that could happen would be that we would be told not to do it again.

Beside the bus depot was a parking area where trucks would wait to get an early start in the morning. There was a curfew in force from sundown to sunrise. We soon located a truck that was headed for Safed; the driver was delighted at our offer to give him a police escort so that he could ignore the curfew.

It was not the most comfortable ride but later 'that night after passing two army road blocks, we finally arrived at Safed Police Station and contacted the Sa'sa Post to announce our safe return.

Sergeant Patterson said'' no problem'' and. that he would send the pickup for us the next day. He also reminded us to check with the Safad Duty officer to cancel ''the missing report'' that is automatically sent out when a policeman has not returned as expected, this is pure routine in case any mishap has occurred.

Unfortunately at this time it was what the English and Irish press call ''the silly season'' that is a period when there is no titillating news. Somebody came across the missing report issued from Head Quarters in Jerusalem and sent it over the news wire where it was picked up by a Dublin newspaper.

This report caused great concern for my family, with condolence offered from all quarters. Many kind souls requested masses to be offered up for my safety and groups held rosary prayer-meetings.

Fortunately, a letter from me to home, which usually took two or three weeks, arrived in a matter of days and as it was dated after the date I was reported missing, it reassured everybody I was OK. I, of course, was not aware of all the added problems resulting from the Devlin episode and was very surprised on receiving the newspaper cutting included in the next letter from home.

As I was not in jeopardy at that time, do you think all those prayers are credited to my account somewhere?

Not surprising, I never went on leave with Devlin again but long after I returned to Ireland I was contacted by his sister and asked if I knew anything about him, it appeared he never returned home. I can only surmise he joined one or other of the opposing factions in Palestine after we left, which some of the police did.