Description
Object description
Brief ts memoir (7pp) with few dates recording his experiences as an NCO and Officer in the Territorial Army serving with the Princess Louise (Kensington) Regiment and the 56th Reconnaissance Regiment in the UK, France and Belgium, North Africa, Italy and Austria (1939 - ?Winter 1945), including being billeted with his unnamed regiment in Hammersmith and Somerset (no dates but 1939); active service in France at Ivetot and Armetieres (Spring 1940 - ?May 1040); the advance into Belgium, the headlong retreat to and evacuation from Le Havre while the rest of his division was encircled at St Valery (?May 1940); the voyage in THE VICEROY OF INDIA from the Clyde to land in North Africa (October 1942 – November 1942); active service with the 56th Reconnaissance Regiment in Tunisia (November 1942 - ?January 1943), winning the DCM and being evacuated to Algiers suffering from sores; rejoining his unit in Italy and advancing through Italy into Austria (?winter 1943 – [May 1945]), being commissioned in the field (Pioneer Corps, May 1944); and occupying Austria (?May 1945 - ?Winter 1945); and commenting on his drinking, relations with the French and Americans, looting an abandoned NAAFI dump, the rations, French food and hospitality, the starving Italians, the Black market and bartering with the Americans, the poverty, devastation and dirt of Italy, life in Occupied Austria. Also included are a ts newspaper cutting from the Daily Sketch (1p, November 1942 concerning the First Army landings in North Africa and with two photographs of Lieutenant General K A N Anderson (First Army), a ts Special Order of the Day (1p, January 1943) by Lieutenant Colonel K G F Chavasse DSO concerning the award of the DCM to Sergeant Finn and the MM to Sergeant Mayne for leading patrols with the 56th Reconnaissance Regiment, a ts newspaper cutting from the Daily Mail (1p, February 1943) printing the photograph of Finn being decorated by General Anderson, one of "the first awards for gallantry in action during the North African campaign", three photographs of Finn in uniform, copies of two photographs of Finn being decorated by General Anderson with the MM at the Signal Corps Centre in Tunisia (1p, 1943) and at his Investiture at Buckingham Palace with his wife and sister (1p, March 1946), two unidentified ts newspaper cuttings (2pp, undated) concerning the newly formed reconnaissance Corps and showing Finn appearing on a quiz on the BBC in Taunton, and a ts Certificate (1p, no date) for his entry to the 'Sunday Pictorial £5,000 War Story Contest'.
Content description
Brief ts memoir (7pp) with few dates recording his experiences as an NCO and Officer in the Territorial Army serving with the Princess Louise (Kensington) Regiment and the 56th Reconnaissance Regiment in the UK, France and Belgium, North Africa, Italy and Austria (1939 - ?Winter 1945), including being billeted with his unnamed regiment in Hammersmith and Somerset (no dates but 1939); active service in France at Ivetot and Armetieres (Spring 1940 - ?May 1040); the advance into Belgium, the headlong retreat to and evacuation from Le Havre while the rest of his division was encircled at St Valery (?May 1940); the voyage in THE VICEROY OF INDIA from the Clyde to land in North Africa (October 1942 – November 1942); active service with the 56th Reconnaissance Regiment in Tunisia (November 1942 - ?January 1943), winning the DCM and being evacuated to Algiers suffering from sores; rejoining his unit in Italy and advancing through Italy into Austria (?winter 1943 – [May 1945]), being commissioned in the field (Pioneer Corps, May 1944); and occupying Austria (?May 1945 - ?Winter 1945); and commenting on his drinking, relations with the French and Americans, looting an abandoned NAAFI dump, the rations, French food and hospitality, the starving Italians, the Black market and bartering with the Americans, the poverty, devastation and dirt of Italy, life in Occupied Austria. Also included are a ts newspaper cutting from the Daily Sketch (1p, November 1942 concerning the First Army landings in North Africa and with two photographs of Lieutenant General K A N Anderson (First Army), a ts Special Order of the Day (1p, January 1943) by Lieutenant Colonel K G F Chavasse DSO concerning the award of the DCM to Sergeant Finn and the MM to Sergeant Mayne for leading patrols with the 56th Reconnaissance Regiment, a ts newspaper cutting from the Daily Mail (1p, February 1943) printing the photograph of Finn being decorated by General Anderson, one of "the first awards for gallantry in action during the North African campaign", three photographs of Finn in uniform, copies of two photographs of Finn being decorated by General Anderson with the MM at the Signal Corps Centre in Tunisia (1p, 1943) and at his Investiture at Buckingham Palace with his wife and sister (1p, March 1946), two unidentified ts newspaper cuttings (2pp, undated) concerning the newly formed reconnaissance Corps and showing Finn appearing on a quiz on the BBC in Taunton, and a ts Certificate (1p, no date) for his entry to the 'Sunday Pictorial £5,000 War Story Contest'.
History note
Cataloguer SNR