Description
Object description
A collection of papers (with some ts transcriptions) relating to the end of his service as a Gunner in the 74th Field Regiment Royal Artillery, and as a Forward Signaller attached to the 50th (Northumbrian) Division, who had landed on D-Day (6 June 1944), and comprising of documents relating to his being wounded in the chest and abdomen near Caen on 28 June 1944, including: Post Office Telegrams and War Office letters informing his Mother of his being wounded, being evacuated to hospital, and of his progress; two ms letters from him to his mother (4pp, with ts transcriptions, 2pp) written from No 3 Casualty Clearing Station and No 17 Canadian General Hospital (July 1944); a letter from the registrar of No 17 Canadian General Hospital (RCAMC) in Crowthorne, Buckinghamshire, informing his mother of his progress (July 1944), being downgraded from dangerously ill to seriously ill, and his subsequent removal from the serious ill list; three ms letters to his girlfriend, later wife, Patricia ('Pat') (9pp, plus ts transcriptions, 3pp, n.d.[1944]) written from MA Ward, Hill End Hospital, St Albans, discussing news from Barking, his only staying 22 days in France before being hit and being lucky to get through the first few days unscratched, "it was not a picnic!", listening to music and news on the ward, the good news from the Pas de Calais area, commiserating on the damage to her home by bombs, finding out he still had shrapnel in his chest, the shrapnel being removed from his bile duct leaving 40 stiches, and his surgeon writing to the College of Sugeons as this was a new type of abdominal injury; one ms letter to Pat (3pp, plus envelope and ts transcription, 1p, 19 May 1945) written from 'B' Ward, Headland Hospital, Newquay, Cornwall, talking about the VE Day celebrations in Barking, and the quieter party and Victory parade in Newquay, details of Newquay, and the hospital being due to close down due to the end of the war, and its reversion to a hotel; his Army Book 64 (Soldier's Service and Pay Book), discharge papers and pension details, correspondence between him and the British Legion who assisted in his appeal against a reduction of the war pension awarded (1953), and papers relating to a Pensions Appeal Tribunal, including details of his full Medical History from Enlistment to Discharge (ts, 14pp) listing all the medical procedures he underwent, the medical units and hospitals he went through, his progress, appearances before the Ministry Medical Board from 1946 – 1953, and his appeal. Together with: a postcard from Headland Hospital, Newquay (April 1945); a postcard from a convalescent home in North Mymms; a photograph of him and his battery in uniform; photographs of him and his wife at Arromanches at the 60th anniversary reunion (6 June 2004); and a short biography prepared by his daughter (1p, 2012).
Content description
A collection of papers (with some ts transcriptions) relating to the end of his service as a Gunner in the 74th Field Regiment Royal Artillery, and as a Forward Signaller attached to the 50th (Northumbrian) Division, who had landed on D-Day (6 June 1944), and comprising of documents relating to his being wounded in the chest and abdomen near Caen on 28 June 1944, including: Post Office Telegrams and War Office letters informing his Mother of his being wounded, being evacuated to hospital, and of his progress; two ms letters from him to his mother (4pp, with ts transcriptions, 2pp) written from No 3 Casualty Clearing Station and No 17 Canadian General Hospital (July 1944); a letter from the registrar of No 17 Canadian General Hospital (RCAMC) in Crowthorne, Buckinghamshire, informing his mother of his progress (July 1944), being downgraded from dangerously ill to seriously ill, and his subsequent removal from the serious ill list; three ms letters to his girlfriend, later wife, Patricia ('Pat') (9pp, plus ts transcriptions, 3pp, n.d.[1944]) written from MA Ward, Hill End Hospital, St Albans, discussing news from Barking, his only staying 22 days in France before being hit and being lucky to get through the first few days unscratched, "it was not a picnic!", listening to music and news on the ward, the good news from the Pas de Calais area, commiserating on the damage to her home by bombs, finding out he still had shrapnel in his chest, the shrapnel being removed from his bile duct leaving 40 stiches, and his surgeon writing to the College of Sugeons as this was a new type of abdominal injury; one ms letter to Pat (3pp, plus envelope and ts transcription, 1p, 19 May 1945) written from 'B' Ward, Headland Hospital, Newquay, Cornwall, talking about the VE Day celebrations in Barking, and the quieter party and Victory parade in Newquay, details of Newquay, and the hospital being due to close down due to the end of the war, and its reversion to a hotel; his Army Book 64 (Soldier's Service and Pay Book), discharge papers and pension details, correspondence between him and the British Legion who assisted in his appeal against a reduction of the war pension awarded (1953), and papers relating to a Pensions Appeal Tribunal, including details of his full Medical History from Enlistment to Discharge (ts, 14pp) listing all the medical procedures he underwent, the medical units and hospitals he went through, his progress, appearances before the Ministry Medical Board from 1946 – 1953, and his appeal. Together with: a postcard from Headland Hospital, Newquay (April 1945); a postcard from a convalescent home in North Mymms; a photograph of him and his battery in uniform; photographs of him and his wife at Arromanches at the 60th anniversary reunion (6 June 2004); and a short biography prepared by his daughter (1p, 2012).
History note
Cataloguer SJO