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1536734 Gunner PENDREIGH James

At the outbreak of World War II, a 34-year-old Electrical Power Station worker from Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, [a small island off Scotlands beautiful West Coast] volunteered for service. After two months deferment, he became Gunner Pendreigh when he was enlisted into the Regiment of the Royal Artillery... AND SO BEGAN SIX YEARS OF SERVICE THAT TOOK HIM ABROAD FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS LIFE, SAW HIM CAPTURED BY ENEMY FORCES, ESCAPE A PRISONER OF WAR CAMP AND EVENTUALLY BE REUNITED WITH HIS FAMILY ON THE SMALL SCOTTISH ISLAND THAT HE CALLED HOME. THE FOLLOWING STORY IS AN OUTLINE OF THE FACTS OF GUNNER PENDREIGH鈥橲 WAR 鈥� A STORY HE ONLY EVER TOLD ONCE DURING MY ADULT LIFE, A STORY THAT I HIS YOUNGEST AND FIFTH CHILD, BORN 1946, WAS PRIVILEGED TO SHARE IN.]

Following initial training, Gunner Pendreigh set sail for France in March 1940 with the 1st Armoured Division as part of the BEF [British Expeditionary Forces]. There, as driver of a crew using an old-fashioned Lewis gun, he was involved in heavy fighting in Normandy. Based at Amiens, his unit was part of a defence line of the Somme, but under strong German offensive, they were gradually forced to retire to the coast. Unable to hold off the German advance and with all supplies from Le Havre having been cut off, Gunner Pendreigh was ordered to destroy his truck at St. Valery by sending it off the jetty into the Channel. His Command realised that they were being overrun and wanted to prevent as much material as possible from falling into enemy hands. Armed with an anti-tank gun he fought alongside the 51st (Highland) Division to defend the town, but Allied forces were surrounded and eventually surrendered to the Germans.

Many Allied troops were killed at St. Valery and thousands were taken prisoner. But it was here, between St. Valery and a small village called Veules-les-Roses, that Gunner Pendreigh was one of the fortunate few who were able to descend the cliffs during darkness, and swim for the small evacuation boats in the early morning half-light. The struggle of swimming in a heavy waterlogged uniform, was followed by a desperate scramble with comrades, each dragging another off the ropes as they all wanted to be the first to be pulled to safety. However Gunner Pendreigh did make it and crossed the Chanel back to England.

After landing at Southampton he was given seven days leave to visit his wife and four young children who lived in a two room tenement flat, with a shared toilet on the landing and a stone outhouse for clothes washing. The children two boys and two girls, had never seen their father before in uniform and the youngest boy Billy, who was just 4 years old, hid under the kitchen table from this strange man. All too soon the leave ended and it was back to regroup and undertake further training, followed by a long spell of defending the south of England, in particular the rail network, from air attack. During this time Gunner Pendreigh joined a newly formed unit the 44/61st Light A.A. and in October 1941, set sail from Liverpool for North Africa.

In the coming months Gunner Pendreigh saw some of the bloodiest fighting in the campaign, including the end of the first siege of Tobruk. He was involved in the fierce, but ultimately unsuccessful, struggle to hold the Gazala line as Rommel led his Axis forces on their counter offensive. This engagement along with the terrible battle of Knightsbridge in June 1942, were amongst his worst North Africa memories. The awful desert battles were intensified by the seemingly constant whine of the approaching Stukas, their noise being just as terrifying as their bombing and strafing. In this campaign he was towing a Bofors gun and the crew were continuously in the front line providing cover to the Allied tanks from low air attack.

During a chaotic retreat after Knightsbridge and under heavy air attack, the convoy left the road to seek cover, but the crew had to abandon the truck and hide. Gunner Pendreigh along with his Lieutenant, named Woodman, became separated from their comrades and, walking between Mersah Matruh and El Daba in an effort to rejoin Allied forces, were captured by a German signals unit on 30th June 1942. Their captors, who were advancing, took them as far as El Alamein. There the Germans came under heavy bombardment from Allied planes and the prisoners were sent back to Mersah Matruh where they were handed over to the Italians. Officers and other ranks were separated and put into large 鈥渃ages鈥� and so Gunner Pendreigh and Lieutenant Woodman never saw each other again.

Gunner Pendreigh spent time in several holding camps including Benghazi and Tripoli. At Suani Bed Adem, his last camp in North Africa, he received an injection for kidney problems and eventually on 5th December was shipped across the Mediterranean on the vessel Col di Lana. On this voyage his good luck was with him again for our own Allied planes sank some of the convoy and other prisoners drowned. After six months of hell in the P.O.W. camps of Africa, which were rife with disease, lice, malnutrition and where the prisoners were surrounded by latrines, they dug themselves; he reached Capua (transit camp) close to Naples. It was here that he received his first Red Cross parcel. On 30th July 1942 Mrs. Pendreigh [my mother, Robina] was informed that her husband was missing, although this did not necessarily mean killed. Then on the 3rd November, she received an unofficial statement from the Red Cross that they had reason to believe Gunner Pendreigh was alive and a Prisoner of War.

At the end of January 1943 he was sent to Fermo P.O.W. camp on the Adriatic coast and then Garlasco camp, near Milan on 10th May. In Italy the prisoners were made to work in the fields under armed guard and fed miserly rations. On 9th September that year, following the armistice with Italy, the guards at Garlasco absconded leaving the prisoners caged and some risked cutting the wire to escape. The north of the country still had a large German occupation so travelling was dangerous, but with the help of a brave Italian loyalist named Angelo, Gunner Pendreigh decided to take the chance, although three others who had escaped with him were not. Travelling with Angelo by train to Laveno then crossing Lake Maggiore to Intra, he was led by locals to a shepherd鈥檚 hut in the mountains. They brought food up to him in the coming days and the three comrades who remained behind also turned up. When Angelo told them that he had got through they too decided to risk it.

The group were hoping they could remain in hiding until Allied troops occupied northern Italy, however German soldiers were searching the mountains with dogs and after Angelo had been missing for a week, they suspected he had been caught. They decided to try and cross the mountains to Switzerland and for the sum of two heavy coats and an Egyptian 拢1 a smuggler took them part of the way and pointed out the rest of the route to them. On 10th October 1943, one month after cutting the wire, they actually crossed the frontier without knowing it, but Swiss guards picked them up and took care of them. After various formalities, medical examinations and treatments, followed by 21 days quarantine, Gunner Pendreigh arrived at Adelboden on 12th November where he remained until early 1945 when he returned to England. He was finally discharged on 3rd September 1945 with an 鈥渆xemplary鈥� military conduct record.

Throughout those long years of war Gunner Pendreigh witnessed much death and serious injury and so he always considered himself lucky to survive with only minor shrapnel wounds. Nevertheless he did suffer a lot of physical illness, in North Africa and Italy, along with the mental torture that many of our soldiers endured. Although he was able to return to his former employment soon after the war, his physical health deteriorated in later life and he was forced to retire early. His relationship with his family was sometimes difficult in the post war years, although this was probably due to our lack of knowledge and understanding of his war history. The advice given to soldiers of this period, was not to speak of their experiences which would allow them to forget. I wonder if this is why these soldiers, who had gone through so much together and formed such close bonds, never contacted each other again after the war. How different to the modern day counsellors and post traumatic stress syndromes! Nevertheless he was proud of his children and grandchildren, and I like to believe that he thought we made his struggles worthwhile. Happily all of the family were able to join their parents on the Island to celebrate their Golden Wedding in 1982, which was a joyful event.

After a long painful illness, my father died on 5th January 1989 and only ever spoke to me once of the traumas of 1939鈥�45. His passion in the post-war years was his garden: it gave him much pleasure to work the soil that he, and so many others like him, sacrificed so much to defend. I can only wonder what he thought of the contrast between its beauty and tranquillity, with the horror of the war years.

James Pendreigh (son)

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