大象传媒

I was born in 1926 and I joined up in 1943 at the age of 17. On the 8th June, 1944 I went over to France with the Royal Armoured Corps as a Sherman tank gunner, landing at Arromanches; by this time the D-Day beaches were fairly quiet.

Almost immediately I was transferred to the "Northumberland Hussars" as a Sherman tank driver as a replacement for battlefield casualties. I had never driven a tank before but this was not a problem; a tank is the easiest thing to drive, you have 2 tillers.

The first action I saw was at Caen, this was very rough. The corporal in charge of my tank got the Military Medal for knocking out a German tank. This happened near to the village of Tilley. We had the warning from the top of the tank that there was a Tiger tank approaching; we very fortunate to be able to destroy it. It was coming out of a coppice, creeping forward and fortunately we hit it side on, it went up in smoke and that was it. If we had hit the front, it would have just bounced off!

Sometime around late September or early October 1944 we were approaching Nijmegen in Holland and were crossing over the bridge. It was a very foggy day. We were joking about coming back for a rest and that we were going to have some drinks and so on. A plane came out of the mist; I did not hear or see anything. I remember a terrific explosion and a flash. The next thing I remember was waking up in hospital.

My parents received a telegram saying "MISSING, BELIEVED KILLED IN ACTION, NORTH WEST EUROPE".

The bomb had dropped by the tank and one of the officers came to see me in hospital and told me that only the wireless operator (who came from Atcham, Shropshire) and myself had escaped. I suffered shrapnel injuries to the head and leg. I was brought back to England on a hospital ship and spent about 18 months in hospital. The biggest tragedy of my life is that on the day I arrived back in England my dear mother passed away, she did not know that I was still alive. My family believe that she died from the shock of believing I was dead. I was involved in the campaign across Europe right up to the time I was wounded.

One of my souvenirs is a SS dagger, inscribed "Alles Fur Deutschland" which I found in a fortified farmhouse which had been defended by diehard SS Troops.

Story: This story has been submitted to the People's War site by Muriel Palmer (volunteer) of Age Concern Shropshire Telford & Wrekin on behalf of Edgar ROUND (author) and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

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