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Introduction

This article is submitted on behalf of Mr Jack Farrell from Cleator Moor, Cumbria, who served in the East Riding Yeomanry during the latter part of World War Two. Jack signed a form agreeing I could write about his memories, that it could be donated to an archive so that others could read it. The terms of “The People’s War” website have been read and understood.

Jack is a member of the Normandy Veterans Association (West Cumbria Branch) and has participated in many commemorative services of the war. He landed in Normandy on D-Day, 6 June 1944 at Sword Beach. Jack has previously assisted me with information about the Battle of Normandy for my university research, which I am pleased to acknowledge. It is an honour to submit this article on Jack’s behalf.

Early days in Cleator Moor and Whitehaven

"I was born on the 4th of July 1923 in Birks Road, Cleator Moor in what was then Cumberland. It’s part of Cumbria now of course. I was the eldest of three brothers and two sisters so we were a family of six. My brothers were called Joe, Bill and Gerard and my sisters were called Margaret and Eileen. My father was called John Farrell so I was named after him. My mother was called Bridget Farrell and her maiden name was McGrath.

My Dad worked in the iron ore mines in West Cumbria. He had been to South Africa for a while the Depression was on and worked over there for a while. He died when he was fifty-one years old and my Mam died when she was about sixty. They both died fairly young compared to nowadays. They were old in those days. Of course, people are living a lot longer now than they did then.

We went to St Patrick’s Catholic School in Cleator Moor, which was pulled down some years ago. That was on the top of Jacktrees Road and Duke Street. Of course, we didn’t have the opportunities that they have now at school. Everything was basic. To tell the truth, I can’t remember a lot about school, apart from getting caned a few times!

They were different days altogether compared to today. You went to school, and you had to come home for dinner. There were no school dinners or anything like that in those days. Then you probably had to run errands for your mother while you were at home. My wife Teresa, she went to St. Mary’s, Cleator and lived in the New Houses. She had to walk it to school in the morning, walk it back for dinner, walk back to school and then back home again at the end of the day. As you see, it’s a different world today when they are nearly all going to school in cars.

Then, when I left school there were no jobs available. So I went to a place in Whitehaven called the J.T.C. (Juvenile Training Centre) in Barracks Mill, Catherine Street. It’s Catherine Mill now. That would have been in 1939 and 1940 it was a place for young lads where they gave you a bit of training. I don’t think they did much training, it was just a spot to train you for a certain occupation. There was a bit of joinery, a bit of sport and other things and just like a continuation of school really. Because there was no work I didn’t leave school at fourteen, so they kept me on at school a bit. I think my Dad was on the dole then with no work so by keeping you on at school they got a wee bit more money.

Working in wartime before being called up

I can’t remember the exact details, but after the J.T.C. I got a job working at Kangol Wear, during the early days of the war. I think that would have been 1940. Kangol Wear came up from the London area to Cleator to make military hats. I was what you called a ‘former’. That meant I handled the hats after they came out of the dye-house. Then I put a wooden block on them in two parts. That ‘formed them’ as it was known and the hats went from there to the dryer.

We made a lot of military berets. Then at Silbertson’s who were also nearby at Cleator, they made khaki battle dresses things like that. So they made a lot of military uniforms in Cleator during the war. Well, my Dad worked there at Silbertson’s during the war as well. I stayed there at Kangol for a while between 1940 and 1942.

Before I was called up to the army, I worked for John Laing at Sellafield for a short while in 1942. This was on construction. Later on, when I came out of the army in 1947 on a ‘Class B’ Release I went back to John Laing to start with as I was classed as a heavy labourer. So I was there while the war was on and I went back to work for John Laing when they built Foxhouses. When you came out of the army on ‘Class-B’ Release, you only got three weeks leave, otherwise you got about three months. However, I didn’t mind that because by then I was glad to get out of the Army!

Called up to the army

When I was eighteen years old, it was automatic that you went to the local Labour Exchange and they got signed up from there. I wanted to join the navy but I ended up in the army. From the Labour Exchange, most local people went to Carlisle for a Medical. Some went to Workington, I think most of them went to Carlisle. I told them I wanted to join the Navy.

However, previous to that, I was having trouble with my appendix and I was waiting to have my operation. So, when I was at Carlisle and told them during the Medical they said, “Well, no chance! You might get on a boat and take bad.” So, that’s how I finished up in the Army! I think that was September 1942.

Firstly, everybody did the same basic training. We did six weeks of that. In my case I went to Formby, Lancashire, between Southport and Liverpool. This was mostly ‘Square Bashing’. During that course they gave you a little test to do involving things like putting a bicycle pump together and a lock. Another test was when they gave you a lock to strip down and put it together again. They decided from that, where you were best suited to go.

The East Riding Yeomanry

In my case, they decided to send me to Barnard Castle, County Durham where there were five different Tank Training Regiments. This was in 1942 so it was well after Dunkirk of course. When I finished my training at Barnard Castle I was posted to the East Riding Yeomanry. They had been at Dunkirk and lost most of their men.

I have a book about the Regiment that explains all of this. This is called 'Europe Revisited' by one of the Regiment's officers, V.C. Ellison. The East Riding Yeomanry was almost the last Regiment to get away from Dunkirk. So, by the time I joined, what they were doing was getting the Regiment back up to full strength from the various Tank Regiments.

In those days from 1939 and 1940 they were in what they called ‘Beaverettes’. They weren’t tanks but really more like armoured cars. So, they progressed from those to Valentine tanks, Cromwell tanks, Covenanter tanks, and then eventually we got Sherman tanks. People who were in that Regiment were from all over the country.

Most Cumbrians went to the Border Regiment which was the local Regiment. So, when people ask me how I got into that Regiment it was because they were making these Tank Regiments, and the East Riding Yeomanry in particular, back up to full strength. They got people from all the various Tank Training Regiments.

Training for the Normandy Landings

When I was sent to the East Riding Yeomanry I went to two places in Yorkshire, Bingley, and Shipley. The Regiment was split up between those two places. We did a lot of training there. Then we moved from there down to Suffolk, to a place called Rendlesham Hall, and we did more training there. After that we went from there to another place in Suffolk and when we finished there, we went up to Scotland, to a place called Forres in Morayshire. It’s just off the Morayshire coast. We did various training exercises there and then we did two mock landings off the coast. I think that was near Inverness

We did ‘guards’ at Inverness Barracks, which was then Combined Operations Barracks. This was Army, Air Force and Navy. We did these two landings which I think was in February 1944 because we were doing our pre-training from then until D-Day. It was the middle of winter and the weather was really bad. It was terrible!

We were camping out in unbelievable conditions! Anyway, when we did our training there, we moved right down to the Portsmouth area. That was in the middle of the part of really building up for D-Day. Every road, bridge, verge and whatever was full with tanks, vehicles, anything you could name really.

By then it was early summer of course. Most of us slept out, either under the tanks or beside the tanks. There was no accommodation. In fact there were that many people in the area, there was no way they could accommodate you. Mostly, our people slept outside these tanks or whatever they had. Then we did another mock landing! All the tanks had to be waterproofed and it took three or four weeks to waterproof them. We also put a thing on the back of the tank over the engine to waterproof everything such as the exhaust.

For this other Landing, we went out into the Channel really to find out if there was any strength to the German Airforce. Luckily we got away with it, but I suppose you know that the Americans went for the same thing and they lost a lot of men, several thousand I think. This was the Slapton Sands disaster. The German ‘E-Boats’ saw them.

These were German ‘E-Boats’, or something like that and they fired on a number of the American Landing Craft. Anyway, we got away with it. We weren’t hampered at all by aircraft, ‘E-Boats’ or anything else. We did that then we had to start again waterproofing the tanks all over again for what turned out to be the actual D-Day Landings."

Conclusion

The East Riding Yeomanry landed at Luc-sur-mer in the 'Sword Beach' sector of the Normandy landing Beaches at approximately 14.30 h on D-Day 6 June 1944. They secured the right flank of the Sword Beach sector with the 9th Infantry Brigade.

As Jack mentions in the about account, the book 'Europe Revisited' was written by V.C. Ellison, an officer with the East Riding Yeomanry, and published about 1948. So far as I can tell, it has been out of print since this first publication. However, Jack has allowed me to read this book and it is an excellent, accurate and detailed account of the East Riding Yeomanry's history during World War Two.

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