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I'm a pupil from Prudhoe Community High School, Northumberland, entering Mr Whitfield's story onto the website, and they fully understand the website terms and conditions of use.

Mr Whitfield was already a part of the British Royal Army when he was signed up for the war at the age of 20. At the time he was living in West Wylam and in July 1939 he was recruited for a 6 month training course, to become a chemical warfare soldier and was sent to his allocated Company. Being a chemical warfare soldier meant that if the Germans were to use gas attacks, he would be one of the men to counter the problems created, as he would be able act upon the situation correctly, saving the life of him and his fellow men.
He was sent to France straight away in September 1939 where he landed at Dunkirk, years before the major battle commenced. However, he was involved with a smaller battle in early 1940 and his time here, he told me, was the worst from throughout his experience of the war as he witnessed many deaths of his fellow companions. However, Mr Whitfield was never actually sent into attack, as this was not what he had been trained for. His job, if there were no gas attacks, was the backbreaking task of clearing up the streets, roads and pathways after the troops and tanks had left. This meant obliterated dead bodies and rubble had to be shovelled into ditches and many times he says men that were still alive who had no chance of survival, still had to be cleared off the streets. The aspect he hated most of this job was the smell. The stench of the dying and decaying bodies made him feel sick!
After this, he was sent back to England where he undertook a new role of bridge engineering. This lead him to work over a large area including Canterbury and Dover. His engineering assignment also took him to several other cities throughout the south of England such as Southampton, Portsmouth and Plymouth. Down there in the south of England, was where he stayed for most of the war. Then, for 6 months, he was sent to Northern Ireland. Here, he had to construct a small bridge over a canal. However, he told me that one day a Canadian soldier was driving a tank and needed to cross the canal. He insisted on crossing over his bridge and he did. However, this tank was over 10 tons in weight, and as soon as he attempted to cross, it collapsed ins6atly and the tank fell straight through. He laughed at this as there was no way of retrieving the tank although the Canadian was safely retrieved from the water. The bridge was simply incapable of supporting that kind of weight.
Then after the 6 months, Mr Whitfield was taken back to New Haven in southern England where he regrouped with his Company and travelled to Dover where he was transported back to France. However, this time when he went France, he landed at Calais. This day was called D-21. This meant it was 21 days or 3 weeks after the original D-Day landings in Normandy. His duties this time was to be clearing up in Calais, once the tanks and troops had moved on. However, he changed back to engineering once he reached Belgium. His duties clearing up this time were different to his last job in Dunkirk, as he was clearing up while progressing forward, or as he put it 鈥渨orking on the move鈥�. What he meant by this was he was clearing up after the British regiment while following them all the way to Belgium. Once he had reached Belgium, German bombers were destroying villages and bombarding the streets with rubble, creating huge problems for the transportation of the British tanks, therefore Mr Whitfield was forced up to the front of the British line to clear a pathway for them to progress forward. He stuck with this task until he was sent to work on the Belgium bridges over the river Schelde, near Brussels. He says to me, 鈥渨orking on the bridges was the point of the war where he felt most vulnerable鈥� because he was 鈥渟tuck out in the open, not knowing where the Germans may be hiding would make anyone feel afraid!鈥� This meant as he was working on the bridge he never knew where the Germans could be or whether they were just about to attack or bomb them. In his overall time throughout the war, he worked on 1 major bridge and 3 minor bridges.
After reaching Belgium, many battles commenced. However, with Mr Whitfield once again behind the British Regiment, he never saw the line of fire, therefore being the main reason why he survived. During these battles many of his fellow companions were lost as the German air force was strong. He says that the German air force was their greatest threat throughout the war as they had the most power for destruction, using bombs to flatten villages in minutes killing hundreds instantly. After these battles, the British regained control of Belgium, freeing the country and its civilians. The defeat of the German forces meant that any German soldiers who surrendered and survived, were arrested. These prisoners were then taken in as 鈥榩risoners of war鈥� by the British Allies and deported into Holland and taken under imprisonment in the city called Dread.
Later, Mr Whitfield with the new assignment of a 鈥榩risoner escort鈥�, he was deported with the prisoners to Dread in Holland as he watched over and commanded them. Dread in Holland was where Mr Whitfield stayed until the end of the war. However, he says he didn鈥檛 actually know it was VE Day until his lunch break as a Radio bulletin was read out. As for his duties in Holland, he worked in a prison containing German soldiers. He told me that one or two of them spoke a little English and when he talked to them, they were very much in the same boat as him. This being that they were assigned a duty for the war and had no choice but to follow as commanded. He says they said that they didn鈥檛 choose to fight in the war for Hitler, it was only because they were in the German army that they were forced to fight abroad and to be loyal to the German beliefs. Mr Whitfield told me how this was often the same for him as he was then forced to send the Germans to walk through mine fields. Each day, if the Germans survived the walk, had to re-walk it each day and if they died鈥hey died. It was his duty to follow his orders.
Even when the war was over, Mr Whitfield stayed in Holland for at least a year afterwards, until he was finally deported back to England and sent to York Barracks. At York, he was awarded his bravery medal for contribution towards the war, finally being brought back to Wylam by early 1947. Here he straight away found a job working in the local co-op and today still lives in Wylam though not working. Mrs Whitfield sadly passed away last year.
Overall, now the war is over and in the past, I asked Mr Whitfield what his emotions are towards the reasoning behind the war and whether he felt it was worth it. His response was that he feels it had to of happened and there was no avoiding it. He also said that now knowing what the Germans were doing to the Jews, he feels glad that it finished when it did. With no friends left from the war Mr Whitfield is now alone and has mixed feelings as to whether the loss of so many lives was really worth it. However, he is glad that he was able to contribute and is proud of what he accomplished.

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