Description
Object description
Ts account (5pp) recording his service (October 1939 - June 1940) as an NCO with the Royal Army Pay Corps (RAPC), including his service with the Command Pay Office, Base, BEF in the Casino at Pornichet, near St Nazaire (October 1939 - early 1940); his transfer with the Base to Rouen (early 1940), having volunteered to change places with a married man who returned to England; closing the office in Rouen and travelling by train without rations and in poor conditions back to Pornichet (May 1940); staying at Pronichet (May 1940 - June 1940); the journey to and evacuation from St Nazaire in SS LANCASTRIA (June 1940); the sinking of the LANCASTRIA, which listed at 49°, by a stick of bombs from a German dive bomber; being rescued covered in oil from an overturned and overcrowded life boat (he could not swim) by an unnamed ship and returned to St Nazaire, where he embarked in another unnamed ship for Plymouth (June 1940); and commenting briefly on the refugees who reached Rouen from Holland, Belgium and Northern France; his reception on arrival without any clothes or kit in England; buying beer with French francs and receiving change; being given a shilling by an old gentleman; relocation by train, receiving a telegram form to notify his family of his safe return; the disasters of the Fall of France and the heavy loss of life when the LANCASTRIA was lost. Also included are his two Attestation Certificates for joining the RAMC (2pp, October 1930) and the Royal Tank Corps (2pp, April 1934); an undated Christmas card with six photographs of the Company from "B" Company, Royal Tank Corps Depot, Bovington Camp, Dorset; official ts correspondence (3pp, July 1940 - October 1940) with the AQMG, Southern Command rejecting his claim for payment to replace kit lost on SS LANCASTRIA; his ts Warrant as a Warrant Officer in the Regular Forces from April 1952 (1p, August 1957); an ms letter from the Burma Star Association (1p, July 1989) concerning an article about Force 136 in Issue No 106 of DEKKO; and an assortment of 32 photographs (1930 - July 1955) of him in and out of uniform and of fellow soldiers at the Depot (1930); the Physical Training Squad, D Company, RAMC at Crookham (1930); in France (1939 - 1940); the Warrant Officers Course No 8 (May 1951 - July 1951); and in Nottingham (May 1955).
Content description
Ts account (5pp) recording his service (October 1939 - June 1940) as an NCO with the Royal Army Pay Corps (RAPC), including his service with the Command Pay Office, Base, BEF in the Casino at Pornichet, near St Nazaire (October 1939 - early 1940); his transfer with the Base to Rouen (early 1940), having volunteered to change places with a married man who returned to England; closing the office in Rouen and travelling by train without rations and in poor conditions back to Pornichet (May 1940); staying at Pronichet (May 1940 - June 1940); the journey to and evacuation from St Nazaire in SS LANCASTRIA (June 1940); the sinking of the LANCASTRIA, which listed at 49°, by a stick of bombs from a German dive bomber; being rescued covered in oil from an overturned and overcrowded life boat (he could not swim) by an unnamed ship and returned to St Nazaire, where he embarked in another unnamed ship for Plymouth (June 1940); and commenting briefly on the refugees who reached Rouen from Holland, Belgium and Northern France; his reception on arrival without any clothes or kit in England; buying beer with French francs and receiving change; being given a shilling by an old gentleman; relocation by train, receiving a telegram form to notify his family of his safe return; the disasters of the Fall of France and the heavy loss of life when the LANCASTRIA was lost. Also included are his two Attestation Certificates for joining the RAMC (2pp, October 1930) and the Royal Tank Corps (2pp, April 1934); an undated Christmas card with six photographs of the Company from "B" Company, Royal Tank Corps Depot, Bovington Camp, Dorset; official ts correspondence (3pp, July 1940 - October 1940) with the AQMG, Southern Command rejecting his claim for payment to replace kit lost on SS LANCASTRIA; his ts Warrant as a Warrant Officer in the Regular Forces from April 1952 (1p, August 1957); an ms letter from the Burma Star Association (1p, July 1989) concerning an article about Force 136 in Issue No 106 of DEKKO; and an assortment of 32 photographs (1930 - July 1955) of him in and out of uniform and of fellow soldiers at the Depot (1930); the Physical Training Squad, D Company, RAMC at Crookham (1930); in France (1939 - 1940); the Warrant Officers Course No 8 (May 1951 - July 1951); and in Nottingham (May 1955).
History note
Cataloguer SNR
History note
Catalogue date 2006-05-11