大象传媒

I am Stephanie Jenkinson, Steve's Daughter and at the time of World War II, I was his only child. After the war he was to have a son Gerald.

My Dad, Steve was born on the 22nd October, 1915 at Ratlake, Nr. Hursley, Hampshire. At the time his Father, Stephen Whitbread was at war in the 1914 - 1918 conflict. Stephen, who was my Grandfather came home from that conflict. He had been wounded but lived until he was 74 years old and died at home at Ampfield, Nr. Romsey, Hampshire in January, 1968.

My Dad was married in 1938 to Alice and in April 1940 I was born at Ampfield. My Dad, Steve died at home at Ampfield in January 1990 aged 74 years. Before he died he left a written account of his war service, with a diary from January to June 1946 which he wrote during his service in Austria as occupying troops. The transcript in Steve's own words is as follows:-

"On the evening of Tuesday 14th May 1940 Anthony Eden asked for volunteers for an armed force to be known as the Local Defence Volunteers. I immediately gave my name to the policeman next doors and became one of the founder members. Eventually we were known as the Home Guard, affiliated to the Hampshire Regiment as the 10th Battalion. I was given the rank of Corporal and performed my duties until called up on the 2nd July 1942 for the duration of the emergency.

I went to Barton Stacey, Camp 4 (near Winchester, Hampshire) for six weeks, which was an Elementary Selection Unit in the General Service Corps. I was selected for the Royal Armoured Corps and proceeded to Farnborough, Hants to join the 55th Training Regiment R.A.C. My training as a Driver-Operator and Gunner-Operator was completed on 11th January, 1943 and I then joined a service Regiment, the 24th Lancers at Chippenham Park Camp near Newmarket, Suffolk.

We had landed in Normandy on Gold Beach on D-Day 6th June 1944 and it was after this in Normandy when the Regiment was broken up to become reinforcements for more senior Regiments. During the period of training for the D-Day landings, I was promoted from L/Cpl to Cpl and whilst at Milford-on-Sea to L/Sgt. I was promoted to Troop Sergeant in Normandy on 21st June 1944 and granted War Substantive Rank of Sergeant on 18th December 1944.

The 24th Lancers became no more on 27th July and after a short stay with a holding unit I joined the 2nd Fife & Forfar Yeomanry. The rest of the fighting war was with them and after a turn in a convalescent depot, after a bout of bronchitis, I rejoined them in Schleswig-Holstein near the Danish border. The 2nd Fife & Forfars was due to be broken up and whilst travelling back across Germany, on the 15th August 1945 the Japanese capitulated and I returned to the Fifes. In November 1945 I was posted to Catterick, Yorkshire and then just before Christmas I was sent to Brandon, Suffolk to join the 8th Royal Tank Regiment and on 15th January 1946 we were posted to Austria as occupation troops. Whilst there we were stationed at Gleisdorf near Graz. After a spring and summer there, during which time we were guards for a prisoner of war camp, I was offerred B release, arriving at Catterick on the 12th July 1946. On 30th July 1946 I came home." .......end of transcript.

The diary my Dad, Steve kept from January to June 1946 as occupation troops in Austria, tells us much of his daily life there whilst guarding a P.O.W. camp. He gives us an insight into the weather conditions at that time. Some days in February that year were sunny and warm, whilst into March there were heavy falls of snow. He also tells us of the travelling to Udine in Italy to buy goods for himself and scarves to send home. He learned to ski and skate in his spare time and tells of his visits to Graz and his much loved visits to the Opera House and to the Stephanien Hall for symphony concerts. Also in addition to his regular duties he was sent to Graz for a month on a building construction course. This was most useful to him as before the outbreak of war he was a bricklayer. With the diary is a large guide book printed in 1946 of Graz, 'Das ist Graz' with glorious black and white photographs of Graz at that time. Steve returned to England on B release on 12th July 1946 and was demobbed on 30th July 1946.

When telling me of his war stories in later years and of his landing on Gold Beach in Normandy, France he said, "I will always remember the noise of the guns and the shells passing overhead from the battleships out to sea giving us covering fire. The noise was deafening."

He came home for good on 30th July 1946. He had travelled so many miles through Europe, witnessed truly awful events and had taken part in ferocious battles, and had received kindness from survivors of that theatre of war. Whilst in the severe winter of the Ardennes at Christmas 1944 he sent me a Christmas Card (which I still have). It is the official Christmas Card of the 29th Armoured Brigade with a picture of a Sherman tank and a background motif of the famous Black Bull. Underneath 'Merry Xmas' is a map of Vire, Laigle, Caen, Amiens, Arras and Antwerp.

In 1988, two years before my Dad, Steve died, my husband Jim and I together with my Dad and Mum took a trip to Normandy and together we visited Gold Beach, Bayeux and Villers Bocage where Dad had encounterd fierce fighting in 1944 and had skirmishes with the dreaded German Tiger Tank. We found War Grave Commission Cemeteries with the names of some of his mates whom he had fought alongside and who had lost their lives. On that trip there was much emotion and we thanked God for my Dad, Steve's safe return home in 1946.

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