Gunner Ken Beamish did not expect to survive the decisive World War 2 battle of el Alamein, let alone to return for the 60th anniversary of that fierce struggle in the Egyptian desert.
But on Saturday Beamish, an 80-year-old Australian who fought with Britain's Eighth Army, was among veterans attending two days of ceremonies in north Egypt to mark the battle that turned the tide of the war in Africa in the Allies' favour.
"At different times you thought it was the finish," said Beamish, a radio operator with the "Desert Rats", describing his fears during the battle that enabled the Allies to force the German and Italian forces to retreat across North Africa.
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Britain's wartime prime minister, Winston Churchill, later said of the battle: "Before Alamein we never had a victory; after Alamein we never had a defeat."
The ceremonies, including a Commonwealth service on Saturday and an international service on Sunday, are centred on cemeteries where thousands are buried at el Alamein. Officials said these might be the last remembrance services here, as most veterans were now at least in their 80s.
Some 32 000 Germans and Italians died in the two-week battle, as did 13 500 men of the Eighth Army, which included Britons, Australians, New Zealanders, Greeks, French and Canadian troops.
"Sand and the blood of martyrs have made them all one," said 82-year-old Cioci Antonio, an Italian veteran of the campaign, as a contingent he was leading laid a wreath at the grave of Commonwealth troops.
The battle began on October 23, 1942, when 900 Eighth Army artillery pieces opened a huge barrage against Axis forces who had advanced unchecked along the Mediterranean coast, heading for the Suez Canal and Middle East oil fields.
"It was (scary), but it must have been a lot worse at the end where the shells were landing," said Beamish, from Western Australia's Perth, making his first return visit.
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