- Contributed by听
- AgeConcernShropshire
- People in story:听
- Edith RATCLIFFE; Eva CARTWRIGHT (mother); George CARTWRIGHT; Fred CARTWRIGHT; Ernest CARTWRIGHT; Cecil CARTWRIGHT (brothers) Sylvia CARTWRIGHT (sister)
- Location of story:听
- England; The Mediterrean; Mainland Europe
- Background to story:听
- Army
- Article ID:听
- A8820821
- Contributed on:听
- 25 January 2006
Back row, left to right: Cecil, George and Ernest. Front row, left to right: Fred, Mum with Sylvia and Edith. 1941
My brothers, sister and I were all born in Much Wenlock, Shropshire. My father, George, died in 1937, when my sister Sylvia was still a baby. My brothers all served in the Forces. My mother took in evacuees from London and I did essential war work.
GEORGE, my eldest brother, enlisted in the Royal Marines in 1940 and was posted to the Mediterrean. From there he went to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). On his retrun in 1944 he joined the Allied Forces in Europe fighting through Holland into Germany.
FRED, my 2nd brother, enlisted in the RAMC and went to West Africa. He took part in the D-Day landings, serving on a Hospital ship bringing back the injured to England. After this he was in France and Belgium.
ERNEST, my 3rd brother, enlisted with the RAF. He was based at Cosford in Sropshire, but when he became ill he was invalided out of the Air Force. He then had to do essential war work.
CECIL, my youngest brother, seved in the Army with the Coldstream Guards, he was with the Army of Occupation in Trieste, in the north of Italy near to the Yugoslavian border.
In 1941 my three older brothers all had home-leave at the same time; this was when the family photograph above was taken. Cecil was not old enough to enlist until 1944.
As a family we were very lucky as all my brothers returned home from the War safe and well. My brothers have all died; my sister Sylvia and I are the last of the family.
More stories from Edith can be found at:
* A4206421 "Entertaining the men from St Dunstan's"
* A8708538 "Death at the Dingle" (The FuelDump at Farley Dingle, near Much Wenlock)
* A8709221 "The Day the Bomb dropped on Ironbridge)
Her husband's story "My War Years with The Admiralty" can be found at A8710661 .
STORY: This story has been submitted to the People's War site by Muriel Palmer (volunteer) Age Concern Shropshire Telford & Wrekin on behalf of Edith RATCLIFFE (author) sister of the late Cartwright brothers, and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.
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