大象传媒

JOSEPH RATCLIFFE 1917 - 1987

ADDRESS : Adlington, Nr. Chorley, Lancashire

DATE OF BIRTH : 27 August 1917

ARMY No. 5116059

ENLISTED: 15 March 1940 8th Royal Warwickshire Regiment, H. Q. Company M/T.

This story has been compiled by me, Bernice, the daughter of the above, and sourced from letters sent between my parents Joe and Margaret, stories told to me by Joe after the war, and from official Army documentation.

March 1940 Joe was stationed at Horncastle, Lincolnshire. Transport and Field Training. Best mates
were George Bates, Joe Thomson and Harry Ball.

Jan. 1st 1942 Promotion to corporal 鈥� (course YM22).

March 1942 Met future wife, Margaret Smith from Mablethorpe at local Saturday night dance. Love at
first sight! Joe used to cycle the 26 miles from Horncastle to see her as often as possible.

Oct. 6 1942 Joe and Margaret were married at St. Joseph鈥檚 R C Church in Mablethorpe, glorious day.

April 1943 Left Horncastle to board a ship for an unknown destination.
Corporal Joseph Ratcliffe, now in Sherwood Foresters, R.N.H.H.W.

Extract from Joe鈥檚 letter to Margaret:-

My darling wife, I have 44 hours sailing to my credit but I am not proud as I make a very, very poor sailor. Last night I would have given anything in the world to have been able to plant my two feet firmly on good old England. I never knew sea-sickness could be so bad, you just want to stop the boat but instead it keeps on rolling, piling the agony on, but, there are hundreds worse than me. Today, for instance, I am feeling quite on my feet again, thank goodness. Just to explain more fully, I lay in my hammock this morning and looked out through the porthole and saw sea, the next moment sky, then a pause in mid-air, then sea again. I can assure you I clung to the sides after my previous encounter with hammock. Life on a ship is pretty dull, there isn鈥檛 a drop of intoxicating liquor on board. The only beverages are mineral waters, and ginger wine for Officers only. We get 50 cigarettes a week for 1s.8d, Players or Goldflake, Woodbines are 3d for 10. I鈥檝e already smoked my ration but I expect to get next week鈥檚 soon. Last week, at this time, my darling, I was with you as happy as anyone could possibly be, but today, I am very depressed indeed, each roll takes me further away from you. It is now third day of sailing, (64 hours) and perhaps I will make a sailor after all, as I am feeling more or less myself again. Sea quite calm today. As soon as we disembark I will, if possible, send an Airgraph. Life at sea is the same everyday, water,water, and more water, no change of scenery. Of course, we have several means of idling time away, there is a library, card-playing, draughts, dominoes, darts, and we have a wireless to each Mess deck where we eat/sleep.
One week since leaving Horncastle , still sailing Mid-Atlantic,wonder where I鈥檒l be next week?

May 1943 Disembarked in North Africa (Algeria)

9 May 1943 Corporal Joseph Ratcliffe
1st Battalion Duke of Wellington鈥檚 Regiment (The First Army)
A Company, 8th Platoon

23 May 1943 News from Margaret鈥檚 letter:-

Her brother Jack Smith has written to his wife Joan (nee Jessop) living, at the time in Sleaford near Boston, Lincs. with his address:- T/179844, Cpl. J Smith, H.Q.Platoon 313, G.T. Company, R.A.S.C.
He is also in North Africa as part of the Eighth Army under Gen. Montgomery.( later on Jack served mostly in Italy). Will Joe please write to him if he is able?

1 June 1943 Weather stifling hot, even near the coast, every day the same, Joe is so sunburned he can hardly touch his face. Margaret sympathises with his dreadful living conditions in the desert. She promises to send him a pocket calendar so he doesn鈥檛 lose track of the date, she prays every day for his safety. Joe marching for miles, hot, tired, footsore. Chlorinated water to drink, corned beef and biscuits to eat. Limited washing water, (six men had to wash/shave in a small bowl of water) unlimited flies, and visiting snakes attracted by body heat in the night. After marching, the men had to make camp, using pickaxes, shovels, and crowbars to dig holes for their stores, the cookhouse, and sleeping quarters.

June 1943 - Invasion of Pantalleria off the coast of Sicily

Excerpt from Joe鈥檚 letter:-

鈥淥ur Company was one of the first, it was the first on that particular part of the beach, and I had the job of cutting through the barbed wire defenses, to make a gap for my section. You can guess where my heart was! (they were expecting to come under heavy enemy fire as they left the duck boats) but we got through alright. After that we were dive-bombed and machine-gunned about 4 times a day. Sometimes it would happen at the most inappropriate times and we would see some of the lads fly off the lavatory with their pants down, running for cover. Funny, but not at the time! I can assure you I was glad to get on a boat and leave the place. One of the prisoners we took gave me a wristlet watch for a souvenir, quite a nice one, I will send it on when I get proper facilities.
(Joe was pleased at this success, he felt he had helped to achieve what they had set out to do.

July 1943 - Excerpt from letter whilst in in hospital for 3 to 4 weeks in Philippeville (Algeria) 鈥�

I have sent some leaflets that were dropped on this country (Algeria) when it was in German hands and the arm-band is from the uniform of the Afrika Corps, the German troops under Rommel, it鈥檚 wonderfully woven. I picked these things up as we advanced along. I am still in hospital but doing fine and hoping to be out soon.

Aug 1943 - 3rd August - Postcard sent to Margaret from Philippeville 鈥� out of hospital.
- 12th August - Joe鈥檚 medical classification now B7 - (had always been A1 since 1940).

Before Joe left hospital, he was told that the Duke of Wellington鈥檚 Regiment had moved on. He was asked if he wanted to re-join them or go elsewhere. He heard that the S.A.S. were looking for volunteers and also that they were due for some leave. Joe volunteered, and was accepted on condition that he reverted to Private. (this is born out in his Army Service book.).
It was a fortuitous decision to join the S.A.S. Regiment, as later on he was to find out that the Duke of Wellington鈥檚 Regiment had been wiped out. (I have no details of this event).

Sept 1943 - Private Joseph Ratcliffe
2nd Battalion S.A.S. Regiment
H.Q. Squadron M.T.

Letter from Margaret refers to his last letter to her when he tells her how his Officers came up to him and asked him about his connection with the Royal Warwickshires. She presumes how proud he must have felt and she called them 鈥榯he good old Warwicks鈥�.
Joe was still aware of some of his old comrades and had received letters earlier but there are no details about what that letter from Margaret actually refers to!

Oct 20 1943 鈥� Letter written to Joe from his best mate in Royal Warwickshires鈥� 5116512 George Bates still based at Horncastle but expecting to be sent overseas at any time. Promises to look out for Joe. Apparently Mr. Leeke, who Joe knew in his Horncastle Training time in 1940 鈥� 1942 is now Company Commander.

Oct 27 1943 鈥� Joe still in North Africa. Letter to Margaret written sitting in his lorry 鈥榦n a scheme鈥� waiting for orders to move. He tells Margaret he has just received 17 letters from her and 2 papers. Very grateful. He has sent 5 postcards from Collo in Algeria, with his letter.

Quote: The flies don鈥檛 work full time now, sometimes it is too cold and damp for them. However, when the sun comes out they attack with such unparalleled ferocity that it makes you dive for cover. Will I be glad to get back to dear old England. I won鈥檛 even notice the few flies there.

Nov 8 1943 鈥� Sent to Margaret from Joe鈥檚 younger brother, Driver Bernard Ratcliffe (no. 2 Platoon,
15th 1.B. Company, R.A.S.C.)
Airgraph: Christmas Greetings from the Mediterranean.
Nov 9 1943 - Airgraph: Christmas Greetings from The Eighth Army.

Margaret would notify the family and Joe in her next letter so that they would all know
Bernard was safe and well.

Dec 5 1943 鈥� Letter and Christmas card from Margaret:- By next year I hope you will be home!

March 1944 - Margaret, still with her Mother and sister, Mary, in Mablethorpe, Lincs. receives a
telegram from Joe. He鈥檚 in Scotland and coming home for 14 days.

July 1944 - Joe sends telegram from Prestwick, Ayrshire, coming home for 5 days

Oct 1945 - Joe goes to Germany to take part in War Crimes Investigation, along with other S.A.S. members. He was sent to the zone assigned to the French. He was amazed to see the severity of the destruction in Cologne, 85%, a mass of rubble! He was billeted with a German family - in Gaggenau, I think. They were living under very difficult circumstances and didn鈥檛 always have enough food .He shared some of his rations with them, Brigitte (mother of the family) told him that he was 鈥渁 sehr gut man鈥�.
There were very unpleasant things happening at this time, fortunately Joe was working with Sergeant Fred Rhodes, at this time, a man he respected.

April 1946 - Joe left Germany and was demobbed in July 1946. He had served just over 6 years.

In the 1980鈥檚 Joe was contacted by Fred Rhodes who was living in the North of England and he and Margaret went to visit Fred and his wife for the weekend.

There was a film made for television presented by Alastair Stewart in which Fred appeared.. The story was set in Gaggenau and was about some soldiers who were stripped of their uniforms and shot as though they were spies. They were then covered up in shallow graves. Fred and Joe had worked on this case after the war and I believe that the outcome was the bodies were found and given a military funeral.

Joe died suddenly of a heart attack October 4 1987. During the Second World War he had done his bit.

Margaret died of heart trouble on October 5 2002. In the Fire Service for 2 years, she had done her bit.

Together they wrote 200+ letters to each other which sustained their marriage and kept up their morale leaving a legacy of the Second World War.

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