I’ve heard two stories about soldiers who fought in North Africa during WWII. One I beleive. That soldiers (especially the British who were there for so long) suffered higher rates of skin cancer later in life as a result of serving in the area.
The other I would be less inclined to beleive immediately. A newspaper account by a veteran had it that men urinating in the open desert could sometimes have sand blown up on their penis and this found its way under their foreskin causing irritation. One long term solution was circumcision, as a result of which soldiers in the British 8th Army were far more likely to be circumcised than any other in the British Armed Forces.
Is this one true?