Pick Up Your Parrots and Monkeys

An unusual, vivid coming-of-age story and unforgettable autobiographical portrayal of the last days of the Indian Raj. "Pick up your parrots and monkeys, and fall in facing the boat" was the traditional order given to British soldiers heading home from India. William Pennington overheard the command when he arrived in India at the age of 17 to serve in the horse artillery. His compelling portrayal of army life extends from the 1930s to the Burma campaign in World War II, where Pennington fought the Japanese as an artillery officer-the most dangerous job in the jungle.An unusual, vivid coming-of-age story and unforgettable autobiographical portrayal of the last days of the Indian Raj. "Pick up your parrots and monkeys, and fall in facing the boat" was the traditional order given to British soldiers heading home from India. William Pennington overheard the command when he arrived in India at the age of 17 to serve in the horse artillery. His compelling portrayal of army life extends from the 1930s to the Burma campaign in World War II, where Pennington fought the Japanese as an artillery officer-the most dangerous job in the jungle.