大象传媒

Our late father was born at the beginning of World War One, to a working class family, in the backstreets of Birmingham. He later worked as an apprentice in the paint shops of the Austin Motor Company, Longbridge, and married his beloved Mary Simpson, a Shropshire lass, who was in service to the Jenson family, who owned Jenson Motors. In 1940 he was conscripted into the 1st Battalion of the King鈥檚 Shropshire Light Infantry, to partake in World War Two.

During his training in Yorkshire, he assisted in guarding and fortifying camouflaged drainpipes, disguised as heavy artillery batteries along the East Coast. These faux guns were thankfully never needed to repel Panzers from Scarborough. This precarious position was nicely summed up by his Sergeant Major who wisely advised, 鈥渨hen 鈥榠tler lands on the beach lad, fire your five rounds 鈥� and **** off 鈥榦me鈥�.

Ollie was often commended for his smartness as a soldier and had the distinction of being the only soldier found to have creases in his handkerchief, during one particularly gruelling inspection. He also became the section Bren gunner. This was probably because he was deemed a bit if a marksman, strong and fit, or daft enough to carry it for miles at light infantry pace.

From then on it was the Anglo-American North Africa beach landings, as part of Operation Torch and onwards to Italy, via Salerno and Anzio 1943/44

During the campaign in Tunisia and the Battle of Tunis, Ollie took part in night reconnaissance patrols with the much respected and feared Ghurkhas. He seems to have been mainly pre-occupied at this time, with which direction they last went/disappeared and identifying slack American positions before the Khukris were unsheathed.

The war started to take its toll, when he was 鈥榖lown up鈥� on a couple of occasions, leaving him severely concussed. One particularly harrowing incident concerned the shelling of a field hospital by German 88鈥檚, caused by ammunition being conveyed to the British front lines using ambulances in full view of the German positions. What a sickening, pitiful sight the aftermath must have been, although, he never blamed the enemy once for their actions.

Bad news from home, concerning the death of his baby son, resulted in a compassionate officer sending him to the 鈥榬ear鈥�. That very night, many friends and comrades, including that very same officer, were killed during a heavy German attack. Some might view him as lucky, but Ollie was always haunted by the thought that he should have been with his mates.

Now downgraded to stretcher bearer, he carried on, helping as best he could. After all that had happened, he was still able to enter a farmhouse, alone and unarmed, to aid many German casualties.

ANZIO January 22nd 1944

In an attempt to outflank the axis powers in Italy, it was decided that the small town of Anzio was the best place for the allies to land. Amongst the first troops ashore was the 1st Bn King's Shropshire Light Infantry, as part of 3rd Infantry Brigade, 1st Infantry Division. The landings were carried out with precision and enemy resistance was so light that British and American units gained their first day's objectives by noon, moving three to four miles inland by nightfall.

A German counter-attack began on the 3rd and 4th of February with an artillery barrage, followed by armoured and Infantry assaults which smashed into the partially prepared British 1st Division defences in the Campoleone salient. The KSLI was in the thick of the fighting and was very badly mauled.

Ollie was 鈥榤issing, presumed killed鈥�. But he survived! How? He lay unconscious, concussed again, covered in the blood and mangled entrails of his comrades. This was also the reason why he was not bayoneted by German soldiers looking for survivors, as they passed through the carnage.

This was effectively the end of the fighting for dad. Also, it was probably the end of the 鈥榩erson鈥� he was before the war started and the one he had to live with for the next 50 years.

Suffering severe psycho-neurosis 鈥榮hell shock鈥�, hospitalisation and rest camp followed. Interestingly, he was probably close to another nervous individual, Gunner Terence 'Spike' Milligan, whose war memoirs recounted his time as the camp clerk and the massive eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in March 1944. Ollie managed to escape the volcano, but his kit and documents succumbed to the oncoming lava. As Spike said, a great place for a holiday, especially if you鈥檙e bomb happy.

Coming before the medical board, he was asked what had traumatised him most. It wasn鈥檛 the fighting or the ill effects of dysentery; it was the constant loss of his mates. What would he do if they ordered him back into the lines? Go back sir. Well, you鈥檙e not going back, was their reply. In fact, it was the beginning of a very happy period, as a medical orderly in beautiful, romantic Venice.

How could a bomb happy, working class Brummie cope with this sudden cultural shock? He managed very well, by all accounts. An open-air performance of Carmen, skiing and Christmas in Cortina. Meraviglioso! One Italian family in particular, 鈥榓dopted鈥� him and helped him come to terms with an uncertain future. God bless them.

It鈥檚 not the end of the story, but it鈥檚 the conclusion of this episode.

When asked about the war in later years, Dad always said that ultimately the loss and sacrifice was not worth it and was to no avail. You may disagree, but he did earn the right to believe and say it. God bless him.

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