´óÏó´«Ã½

We married in June 1941 and my husband, Bill, was posted abroad in September 1941. We expected him to be away for about 18 months, but I didn’t see him again for four years. First of all, he was sent to Leeds and I determined to see him before he went overseas. My eldest sister, Vera, lived in Headingley and I sent her a telegram to tell her I was coming and hoping that my brother-in-law, Frank, would meet me at the station. I set off after work on Saturday evening, so didn’t arrive till very late. Luckily, Frank was there to meet me, but I had decided that if he wasn’t, I’d go to the stationmaster and ask him to recommend a place to stay. The following morning we didn’t have any idea how to find Bill, but Frank suggested driving round the churches looking for soldiers on church parade until we found men with his cap badge - he was in the Royal Artillery. We found him!

He served in Egypt, North Africa, Tobruk and Alexandria. He was a ‘desert rat’ under Monty and as a gunner was part of one retreat and one successful campaign. He was on the guns that went in front of the tanks. I remember him telling me that sometimes the soldiers had so many cigarettes they couldn’t smoke them all and at other times, they were in such short supply that men would fight over a butt. Years later, when we had a family and they were old enough to be curious about their dad’s part in the war, he would tell that story and one about having to chip the margarine out of the billy cans with your bayonet because something had been added to it to stop it melting in the desert sun. Otherwise, he said very little to the children about the war. After the fighting was over, he looked after Italian prisoners of war; he was a medical orderly (chiropody). It took him three days, travelling overland, to get back to this country. He had to go back to Leeds to get his leave. The train that took him there passed the end of the back garden of his family’s house in Southgate! He was demobbed around February 1946 at about the same time that I came out of the Fire Service.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.