Description
Object description
Brief ts memoir (19pp), 'My Life and Times', with few dates recording his experiences as an officer with the Somerset Light Infantry in the UK, North Africa, Italy, and North West Europe (1941 - 1946), including his background living in Bath and attending Monkton Combe School (1920 – 1939); joining the LDV (Home Guard) with his father (no dates) ; OCTU at Sandhurst and being commissioned into and serving with the Somerset Light Infantry at Clacton and St Osyth's (no dates, but 1941 - 1942); the voyage on the DUCHESS OF ATHOLL from Glasgow to Egypt via Freetown, Sierra Leone and Cape Town, South Africa (no dates); suffering from 'Gyppy Tummy' (no dates) and having been separated from his battalion saw active service with the 1st/5th Battalion Queen's Royal Regiment (131st Brigade, 7th Armoured Division) in the Western Desert and North Africa (no dates, but October 1942 – September 1943); landing at Salerno (September 1943) and advancing to the Volturno River prior to returning to the UK (September 1943 – December 1943); training in the UK (January 1944 – June 1944), including attending a 3-inch mortar course; active service in Normandy (June 1944) where he was wounded by shrapnel in the head and leg; his evacuation to an American field hospital and then to the UK by a Dakota ambulance plane to recover from his wounds in a hospital at Llandaff (no dates); his return to light duties training the Belgian Maquis in Northern Ireland and working with SAAFA for the Somerset Light Infantry at Plymouth Barracks (no dates) prior to demobilisation (1946) including treatment for boils in a hospital at Newton Abbot where he met his future wife, a nurse; and commenting on army life, notably the spit and polish at Sandhurst, the rations, the conditions, the boredom, and his off duty entertainment, notably drinking tea and ENSA shows (Vivien Leigh); watching the bombardment opening the Battle of El Alamein; life in the Western Desert, notably the heat, the shortage of water and problems with flies; his treatment for his wounds; and his post-war career as a farmer and a teacher 1946 – 1985).
Content description
Brief ts memoir (19pp), 'My Life and Times', with few dates recording his experiences as an officer with the Somerset Light Infantry in the UK, North Africa, Italy, and North West Europe (1941 - 1946), including his background living in Bath and attending Monkton Combe School (1920 – 1939); joining the LDV (Home Guard) with his father (no dates) ; OCTU at Sandhurst and being commissioned into and serving with the Somerset Light Infantry at Clacton and St Osyth's (no dates, but 1941 - 1942); the voyage on the DUCHESS OF ATHOLL from Glasgow to Egypt via Freetown, Sierra Leone and Cape Town, South Africa (no dates); suffering from 'Gyppy Tummy' (no dates) and having been separated from his battalion saw active service with the 1st/5th Battalion Queen's Royal Regiment (131st Brigade, 7th Armoured Division) in the Western Desert and North Africa (no dates, but October 1942 – September 1943); landing at Salerno (September 1943) and advancing to the Volturno River prior to returning to the UK (September 1943 – December 1943); training in the UK (January 1944 – June 1944), including attending a 3-inch mortar course; active service in Normandy (June 1944) where he was wounded by shrapnel in the head and leg; his evacuation to an American field hospital and then to the UK by a Dakota ambulance plane to recover from his wounds in a hospital at Llandaff (no dates); his return to light duties training the Belgian Maquis in Northern Ireland and working with SAAFA for the Somerset Light Infantry at Plymouth Barracks (no dates) prior to demobilisation (1946) including treatment for boils in a hospital at Newton Abbot where he met his future wife, a nurse; and commenting on army life, notably the spit and polish at Sandhurst, the rations, the conditions, the boredom, and his off duty entertainment, notably drinking tea and ENSA shows (Vivien Leigh); watching the bombardment opening the Battle of El Alamein; life in the Western Desert, notably the heat, the shortage of water and problems with flies; his treatment for his wounds; and his post-war career as a farmer and a teacher 1946 – 1985).
History note
Cataloguer SNR