- Contributed byÌý
- ActionBristol
- People in story:Ìý
- FRED SMITH
- Location of story:Ìý
- GERMANY
- Background to story:Ìý
- Army
- Article ID:Ìý
- A7592736
- Contributed on:Ìý
- 07 December 2005
Fred meet General Sir Mike Jackson, head of the British Army at the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Belsen, Hyde Park, London, 12th April 2005.
Afterwards.
After the war Fred and the division continued to serve in Germany until 25th April 1946 when he came home and finally was demobbed on 10th August 1946. He had been in the Army for five years and 340 days. His service pay was £98.00. Fred and Doris went to Blackpool for one weeks really good holiday and blew the lot despite Fred having a good win on the dogs in the middle. Fred returned to London with Doris and needing some income began making chairs in the spare room of their house from black market timber (the only source of any kind) and to begin to raise a family together in a marriage that lasted sixty three years….. but that is another story…….!
FLOREAT GERBOA. (Desert Rat Motto)
These memories were passed onto me by my father over a long period of time but the bulk of them were written down in a during a wonderful week spent with him in the shadow of Mount Etna, Italy, from 29th May to 6th June 2005. Given that the events he was recounting happened sixty years before if there are errors they are a result of the passage of time and nothing more. I truly believe that unlike some stories there is not one single word of exaggeration in anything he has told me particularly with references to his personal experiences which came through with a clarity as if they had happened yesterday. It was a pleasure and a privilege to record them. I was occasionally overwhelmed and often humbled by what he has experienced. It has been an honour to understand a little more.
Steven Smith. June 2005.
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