Description
Object description
Ts memoir (83pp) covering his military service as a Private with the 49th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery, on Sicily and in Italy (July 1943 – July 1944) and in Egypt (August – December 1944), and as an NCO with the 4th Queen's Own Hussars in Italy (January 1945 – 1947), describing his feelings on the outbreak of war (September 1939) and immediate evacuation with his mother and sister to Hove, Sussex, their move back to London (February 1940), the start of the Blitz and the family's subsequent move to Houghton Regis in Bedfordshire where he became an Air Raid Warden, commenting on his conscription orders to report to the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Infantry Training Regiment at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk (1 October 1942), his transfer to a Royal Artillery Driver/Wireless Operator training unit in Whitby, Yorkshire (November 1942), then to the 112th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment at Halwhistle, Northumberland (February 1943) and his detachment to join a large draft of Wireless Operators that was assembling at Congleton in Cheshire; he describes his embarkation in the SS FRANCONIA at Liverpool (10 April 1943), arrival in Algiers (23 April 1943) and the march to Cap Matifou, his first impressions of North Africa, his posting to the 49th LAA Regiment in Tunis (April 1943) and his duties, the landings at Syracuse, Sicily (12 July 1943) and his involvement in a truck accident, the advance into Italy (3 September 1943) where he recalls crossing the Messina Straits and driving through Bari after the Italian surrender, his sickness and recovery at a hospital in Naples, watching Vesuvius erupt (18 March 1944) and the hospital being bombed, leave spent in Rome, arrival in Taranto and embarkation on the SS EMPIRE'S PRIDE (18 July 1944) commenting on the voyage, his arrival in Alexandria, Egypt (22 July 1944) and first impressions of Egypt, describing his duties driving the CO, his leave in Cairo, and embarkation in the SS HOMER LEE to Taranto (10 September 1944), recalling how he acted as an unofficial interpreter for his COs; he describes the disbandment of the 49th LAA Regiment (6 December 1944) and his transfer to a tank training unit at Rieti, his posting to the 4th Queen's Own Hussars in Ravenna, an incident in which he walked into a German mine field, his feelings upon hearing about the VE Day celebrations back home (8 May 1945) and his feelings at the loss of his brother, the establishment of a prisoner of war camp at Ferndorf in Austria (15 May 1945), his promotion to Corporal (October 1945), taking leave back home in time for the Victory Celebrations (8 June 1946), being posted to Barnard Castle, Northumberland (January 1947) and his demobilisation (March 1947). The collection also contains a scrapbook (90pp) containing photographs, diary entries, comments of places visited, newspaper cuttings and drawings collected during his wartime service.
Content description
Ts memoir (83pp) covering his military service as a Private with the 49th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery, on Sicily and in Italy (July 1943 – July 1944) and in Egypt (August – December 1944), and as an NCO with the 4th Queen's Own Hussars in Italy (January 1945 – 1947), describing his feelings on the outbreak of war (September 1939) and immediate evacuation with his mother and sister to Hove, Sussex, their move back to London (February 1940), the start of the Blitz and the family's subsequent move to Houghton Regis in Bedfordshire where he became an Air Raid Warden, commenting on his conscription orders to report to the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Infantry Training Regiment at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk (1 October 1942), his transfer to a Royal Artillery Driver/Wireless Operator training unit in Whitby, Yorkshire (November 1942), then to the 112th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment at Halwhistle, Northumberland (February 1943) and his detachment to join a large draft of Wireless Operators that was assembling at Congleton in Cheshire; he describes his embarkation in the SS FRANCONIA at Liverpool (10 April 1943), arrival in Algiers (23 April 1943) and the march to Cap Matifou, his first impressions of North Africa, his posting to the 49th LAA Regiment in Tunis (April 1943) and his duties, the landings at Syracuse, Sicily (12 July 1943) and his involvement in a truck accident, the advance into Italy (3 September 1943) where he recalls crossing the Messina Straits and driving through Bari after the Italian surrender, his sickness and recovery at a hospital in Naples, watching Vesuvius erupt (18 March 1944) and the hospital being bombed, leave spent in Rome, arrival in Taranto and embarkation on the SS EMPIRE'S PRIDE (18 July 1944) commenting on the voyage, his arrival in Alexandria, Egypt (22 July 1944) and first impressions of Egypt, describing his duties driving the CO, his leave in Cairo, and embarkation in the SS HOMER LEE to Taranto (10 September 1944), recalling how he acted as an unofficial interpreter for his COs; he describes the disbandment of the 49th LAA Regiment (6 December 1944) and his transfer to a tank training unit at Rieti, his posting to the 4th Queen's Own Hussars in Ravenna, an incident in which he walked into a German mine field, his feelings upon hearing about the VE Day celebrations back home (8 May 1945) and his feelings at the loss of his brother, the establishment of a prisoner of war camp at Ferndorf in Austria (15 May 1945), his promotion to Corporal (October 1945), taking leave back home in time for the Victory Celebrations (8 June 1946), being posted to Barnard Castle, Northumberland (January 1947) and his demobilisation (March 1947). The collection also contains a scrapbook (90pp) containing photographs, diary entries, comments of places visited, newspaper cuttings and drawings collected during his wartime service.
History note
Cataloguer BC