A BOLTON couple's recollections of their time among the "forgotten heroes" of the Suez Canal conflict take centre stage in a new history of the emergency.

Former Sergeant Major Charles Golder MBE was a key figure in the successful campaign to win a medal for veterans of the 1951-54 emergency in Egypt.

Now his memories, and those of wife, Doris, whom he met in the Middle East where she lived with her military family, are featured in "White Knees/Brown Knees" by author Douglas J. Findlay.

Mr Golder, aged 75, came to know Mr Findlay through the long-running campaign.

The veteran, of Green Meadows, Westhoughton, said: "I tried to put across the shocking conditions we had to tolerate and I think the book does that very well.

"Doris and I are both featured in it, and there's even a full page picture of us in Suez."

Of more than 300 British troops who died during the fighting, the majority were killed by dysentery and other illnesses associated with the soldiers' basic living conditions in the desert.

Troops and civilians both had to cope with a constant terrorist threat.

Mrs Golder, aged 71, recalls a mob of Egyptian students trying to set fire to the compound where she was living while the local police looked on.

The Suez Canal emergency was ignited in 1951 when Egypt tore up a 1936 treaty allowing British military occupation of the canal zone.

"White Knees/Brown Knees" is published by Discover Press priced £15.99.

An estimated 200,000 British troops, many on national service, fought for three years to keep the canal open in the face of terrorist attacks, riots, disease and sandstorms.

The conflict should not be confused with the Suez Crisis of 1956.