Description
Object description
Ts memoir (23pp) illustrated with scans of photographs, containing brief details with few dates about volunteering for the Army (September 1939), joining the Royal Engineers, training in 3 TBRE in Ripon, Yorkshire, drill, minefields, joining the BEF in France, retreating to Cherbourg and evacuation to Wymouth (June 1940), the good reception they received, spending time in hospital with blood poisoning from a scratch, sent to Llandudno , Wales, operation for a hernia, posting to places near Portsmouth and then to Southampton and the Headquarters of the Ordinance Survey, attending a course on Topography and map reproduction, moving to Greenock, Scotland, code used with wife, travelled in HMS? MOOLTAN, travelling in convoy to Egypt with stops in Durban, the journey via Ismailia and Jerusalem to join 517th Field Survey Company, RE, in Beirut, Lebanon, moving to Egypt with stops at Sidi Barani, and Bardia, moving west through Tobruk, Derna, Sirte and Tripoli, Libya, seeing the victory parade following the surrender, boarding landing craft and landing in Sicily, crossing to Italy, moving to Naples, mixing with American soldiers, moving north through Rome and heading to Florence, the end of the war in Italy and leave, horse riding training in Rome, his demobilisation and the return to his pre-war job as a lithographer, with anecdotal stories about the suicide of a friend, air raids, looking after a stray dog and puppies, seeing dead bodies, the good reception from Italian civilians, and booby traps left by retreating Germans.
Content description
Ts memoir (23pp) illustrated with scans of photographs, containing brief details with few dates about volunteering for the Army (September 1939), joining the Royal Engineers, training in 3 TBRE in Ripon, Yorkshire, drill, minefields, joining the BEF in France, retreating to Cherbourg and evacuation to Wymouth (June 1940), the good reception they received, spending time in hospital with blood poisoning from a scratch, sent to Llandudno , Wales, operation for a hernia, posting to places near Portsmouth and then to Southampton and the Headquarters of the Ordinance Survey, attending a course on Topography and map reproduction, moving to Greenock, Scotland, code used with wife, travelled in HMS? MOOLTAN, travelling in convoy to Egypt with stops in Durban, the journey via Ismailia and Jerusalem to join 517th Field Survey Company, RE, in Beirut, Lebanon, moving to Egypt with stops at Sidi Barani, and Bardia, moving west through Tobruk, Derna, Sirte and Tripoli, Libya, seeing the victory parade following the surrender, boarding landing craft and landing in Sicily, crossing to Italy, moving to Naples, mixing with American soldiers, moving north through Rome and heading to Florence, the end of the war in Italy and leave, horse riding training in Rome, his demobilisation and the return to his pre-war job as a lithographer, with anecdotal stories about the suicide of a friend, air raids, looking after a stray dog and puppies, seeing dead bodies, the good reception from Italian civilians, and booby traps left by retreating Germans.
History note
Cataloguer SJO