From www.bobpaisley.com about the wartime career of renowned Liverpool FC manager Bob Paisley (1919-1996); "He remained an ordinary man amid extraordinary achievements":

Bob Paisley joined the 73rd Regiment of the Royal Artillery. He served with Montgomery's Eighth Army, the so called Desert Rats at the relief of Tobruk and the watershed victory at El Alamein, as an anti tank gunner.

Whilst Bob was on active service in Italy he was given the news that his younger brother Alan had died back home at the age of fifteen from scarlet fever and diphtheria. On hearing this news, Bob wandered aimlessly away from where he had been positioned, understandably dazed and upset by what he had heard, and moments later a shell dropped and exploded right where he had been. The tragic news had ironically saved his own life.

In June 1944 he proudly rode aboard a tank as the Allies liberated Rome. It was a proud moment as the relieving forces were welcomed as heroes by the Italians. For Bob and his fighting comrades it was the beginning of the end of the war, a war that had given him an early insight into the Scouse character, for many of the men in his regiment were Merseysiders.