Description
Object description
Detailed ts memoir, (135pp), written in 2010 and illustrated by copies of photographs and maps, covering his early years in Stockton-on-Tees, Co Durham, attending Stockton Grammar School and joining a firm of accountants, volunteering for the Army and joining the Durham Light Infantry, attending No 4 Infantry Training Centre (May - October1943) and No 1 Infantry Mortar Training Wing in Shrewsbury (October – November 1943), his transfer to the 11th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment, moving to Plymouth for the Normandy landings (June 1944), and to Aldershot (July 1944), a detailed list of the equipment issued to him for his deployment to Normandy, wading ashore on Sword Beach (12 July 1944), joining the 4th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment (129th Brigade, 43rd (Wessex) Division), with detailed accounts of the fierce front line fighting in North West Europe including meeting diehard enemy resistance near Ecures, securing the village of St Jean le Blanc, describing attacks by the 4th Battalion Somerset Regiment, and the 5th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment, securing the bridgehead across the Seine at Vernon, moving to Diest, Belgium, to take part in Operation Market Garden (September 1944), moving through Nijmegen, facing the Reichwald (October 1944), leading patrols through enemy lines, moving to Gillrath and the Siegfried Line (November 1944), relocation to Holland, (December 1944), the poor winter weather, the urgent halt and relocation to the Tongres area to counter the German Ardennes Offensive, the attack on Straeten, Germany (January 1945), attacking Cleve, Trippenburg and the crossroads at Neuenhaus, facing a full German counter-attack by the 16th Panzer Division, promotion to acting Lance Sergeant (February 1945), attacking the German bridgehead west of the Rhine, passing a War Office Selection Board in Ghent (March 1945), returning to England (April 1945), reporting to No 148 Pre-OCTU, Wrotham, Sevenoaks, Kent (May 1945), transferring to No 163 OCTU (Artists' Rifles) near Heysham Towers, Morecambe (June - October1945), and joining No 15 ITC, Colchester (October 1945). Also included are brief details about his posting to No 1 Primary Training Centre of the Nigeria Regiment, Royal West African Frontier Force, Zaria, Nigeria (March 1946 – July 1947) including being part of a contingent posted to the 5th Battalion Nigeria Regiment in Kaduna, his return to England and release from the Army (July 1947), and details of his post-war professional and family life, with scanned photographs of his time in Nigeria.
Content description
Detailed ts memoir, (135pp), written in 2010 and illustrated by copies of photographs and maps, covering his early years in Stockton-on-Tees, Co Durham, attending Stockton Grammar School and joining a firm of accountants, volunteering for the Army and joining the Durham Light Infantry, attending No 4 Infantry Training Centre (May - October1943) and No 1 Infantry Mortar Training Wing in Shrewsbury (October – November 1943), his transfer to the 11th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment, moving to Plymouth for the Normandy landings (June 1944), and to Aldershot (July 1944), a detailed list of the equipment issued to him for his deployment to Normandy, wading ashore on Sword Beach (12 July 1944), joining the 4th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment (129th Brigade, 43rd (Wessex) Division), with detailed accounts of the fierce front line fighting in North West Europe including meeting diehard enemy resistance near Ecures, securing the village of St Jean le Blanc, describing attacks by the 4th Battalion Somerset Regiment, and the 5th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment, securing the bridgehead across the Seine at Vernon, moving to Diest, Belgium, to take part in Operation Market Garden (September 1944), moving through Nijmegen, facing the Reichwald (October 1944), leading patrols through enemy lines, moving to Gillrath and the Siegfried Line (November 1944), relocation to Holland, (December 1944), the poor winter weather, the urgent halt and relocation to the Tongres area to counter the German Ardennes Offensive, the attack on Straeten, Germany (January 1945), attacking Cleve, Trippenburg and the crossroads at Neuenhaus, facing a full German counter-attack by the 16th Panzer Division, promotion to acting Lance Sergeant (February 1945), attacking the German bridgehead west of the Rhine, passing a War Office Selection Board in Ghent (March 1945), returning to England (April 1945), reporting to No 148 Pre-OCTU, Wrotham, Sevenoaks, Kent (May 1945), transferring to No 163 OCTU (Artists' Rifles) near Heysham Towers, Morecambe (June - October1945), and joining No 15 ITC, Colchester (October 1945). Also included are brief details about his posting to No 1 Primary Training Centre of the Nigeria Regiment, Royal West African Frontier Force, Zaria, Nigeria (March 1946 – July 1947) including being part of a contingent posted to the 5th Battalion Nigeria Regiment in Kaduna, his return to England and release from the Army (July 1947), and details of his post-war professional and family life, with scanned photographs of his time in Nigeria.
History note
Cataloguer SJO