Description
Object description
Well-written ts memoir (49pp, written in October 1994) recording his service as an NCO with the Royal Artillery in the UK, Greece, the Middle East, North Africa, Sicily and North West Europe (April 1939 - February 1946), including volunteering to join a territorial unit, 4th (Durham) Survey Regiment RA, at Gateshead (April 1939) to avoid being called up prior to taking his law examination at Neqcastle (May 1939), passing his trade test and attending his first and only TA camp at Larkhill on Salisbury Plain (July 1939); being mobilized and billeted in the Brighton Road Junior School in Gateshead (September 1939 - May 1940), attending training schemes in Weardale and at Redesdale in Northumberland (early 1940); at St Edith's in the Marsh, near Devizes in Wiltshire, Penn Street near Amersham, Dover in Kent, and High Wycombe (May 1940 - November1940), surveying airfields in Suffolk and Norfolk and the Kent and Sussex coast; embarkation overseas from Liverpool in the liner REINA DEL PACIFICO via Freetown in Sierra Leone, Cape Town and Durban in South Africa to Port Tewfik in Egypt (November 1940 - December 1940); acclimatizing at Beni Yusef, a camp near Cairo (January 1941 - March 1940); sailing from Alexandria in the CAMERONIA for Piraeus, Greece, operations in Greece, and the evacuation in a commando ship, the GLENEARN, to Crete and then in a merchant ship, the DELANE, to Alexandria ( April 1941); recovering outside Cairo (April 1941 - May 1941); the journey in the destroyer HMS WATERHEN to and service during the first siege of Tobruk (May 1941 - December 1941); the assault on Bardia (December 1941); re-equipping at the camp at Almaza near Cairo, in Haifa in Palestine and outside Tripoli (?January 1942 - June 1942); operations at El Alamein and the subsequent advance (?July 1942 - May 1943), participating in the Battle of Alamien (October 1942 - November 1942); resting and re-equipping at Bougie (May 1943 - July 1943) prior to the invasion of Sicily (July 1943); his return to the UK on a special draft of war-experienced personnel posted to various new units without battle experience (July 1943 - September 1943); service with the 11th Survey Regiment RA at Downton in Wiltshire (October 1943 - November 1943), Bishop Auckland (November 1943 - January 1944), Hastings (January 1944 - May 1944) and Dover (May 1944 - November 1944), spotting V-Weapons (V1 and V2); embarkation overseas to Hasselt in Belgium (November 1944 - March 1945), spotting V2 rockets, and Roermond in Holland (March 1945 - April 1945); his service with various unnamed units in the UK and Germany while awaiting demobilization (May 1945 - February 1946); and commenting on army life, notably his duties, the fatigues, guard duty, his training in Flash Spotting; drill, manoeuvres, the rumours; the constant air raids during the Battle of Britain, sight seeing in Cairo, the Pyramids, Algiers and Brussels; life in Tobruk, notably the poor conditions and food, the shelling and air raids, the sand and flies, the scarcity of supplies, the illnesses, the faulty shells for the guns; and the capture of one Troop from his regiment at the second siege of Tobruk (June 1942).
Content description
Well-written ts memoir (49pp, written in October 1994) recording his service as an NCO with the Royal Artillery in the UK, Greece, the Middle East, North Africa, Sicily and North West Europe (April 1939 - February 1946), including volunteering to join a territorial unit, 4th (Durham) Survey Regiment RA, at Gateshead (April 1939) to avoid being called up prior to taking his law examination at Neqcastle (May 1939), passing his trade test and attending his first and only TA camp at Larkhill on Salisbury Plain (July 1939); being mobilized and billeted in the Brighton Road Junior School in Gateshead (September 1939 - May 1940), attending training schemes in Weardale and at Redesdale in Northumberland (early 1940); at St Edith's in the Marsh, near Devizes in Wiltshire, Penn Street near Amersham, Dover in Kent, and High Wycombe (May 1940 - November1940), surveying airfields in Suffolk and Norfolk and the Kent and Sussex coast; embarkation overseas from Liverpool in the liner REINA DEL PACIFICO via Freetown in Sierra Leone, Cape Town and Durban in South Africa to Port Tewfik in Egypt (November 1940 - December 1940); acclimatizing at Beni Yusef, a camp near Cairo (January 1941 - March 1940); sailing from Alexandria in the CAMERONIA for Piraeus, Greece, operations in Greece, and the evacuation in a commando ship, the GLENEARN, to Crete and then in a merchant ship, the DELANE, to Alexandria ( April 1941); recovering outside Cairo (April 1941 - May 1941); the journey in the destroyer HMS WATERHEN to and service during the first siege of Tobruk (May 1941 - December 1941); the assault on Bardia (December 1941); re-equipping at the camp at Almaza near Cairo, in Haifa in Palestine and outside Tripoli (?January 1942 - June 1942); operations at El Alamein and the subsequent advance (?July 1942 - May 1943), participating in the Battle of Alamien (October 1942 - November 1942); resting and re-equipping at Bougie (May 1943 - July 1943) prior to the invasion of Sicily (July 1943); his return to the UK on a special draft of war-experienced personnel posted to various new units without battle experience (July 1943 - September 1943); service with the 11th Survey Regiment RA at Downton in Wiltshire (October 1943 - November 1943), Bishop Auckland (November 1943 - January 1944), Hastings (January 1944 - May 1944) and Dover (May 1944 - November 1944), spotting V-Weapons (V1 and V2); embarkation overseas to Hasselt in Belgium (November 1944 - March 1945), spotting V2 rockets, and Roermond in Holland (March 1945 - April 1945); his service with various unnamed units in the UK and Germany while awaiting demobilization (May 1945 - February 1946); and commenting on army life, notably his duties, the fatigues, guard duty, his training in Flash Spotting; drill, manoeuvres, the rumours; the constant air raids during the Battle of Britain, sight seeing in Cairo, the Pyramids, Algiers and Brussels; life in Tobruk, notably the poor conditions and food, the shelling and air raids, the sand and flies, the scarcity of supplies, the illnesses, the faulty shells for the guns; and the capture of one Troop from his regiment at the second siege of Tobruk (June 1942).
History note
Cataloguer SNR
History note
Catalogue date 2006-11-03