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15 October 2014
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Mr Dunk's Wartime Directives

by Elizabeth Lister

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Archive List > British Army

Contributed byÌý
Elizabeth Lister
People in story:Ìý
Mr Leslie Dunk
Location of story:Ìý
British Isles, North Africa, Sicily, Vienna.
Background to story:Ìý
Army
Article ID:Ìý
A5971340
Contributed on:Ìý
30 September 2005

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Ciara Garland from Reading on behalf of Mr Leslie Dunk and has been added with his permission. Mr Dunk fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

Leslie Dunk’s Wartime Directives…

I was 23 the year the war began in 1939. I was born and grew up in Reading, Berkshire, and decided that I wanted to volunteer for the Navy. Unfortunately, they turned me down because of the lack of sight I suffered from in my left eye.
I was ‘called up’ instead to join the Army and was told that my useless left eye would be no problem there because a solider normally closes one eye when shooting some unfortunate soul anyway. So that was that! Before I had joined the Royal Berkshire Regiment I had been a ‘commercial traveller’ and so I spent much of my early time after joining taking men out on driving practice to prepare them for all the army vehicles they would have to use.

We were based in on the Oxford Road after which I was transferred to the ‘Second Six Queen’s Surrey Regiment’ with whom I went on to be stationed on the Isle of Sheppy. This was where I was to encounter my first war casualty, a young girl of 16 was bringing a solider a cup of tea and an enemy plane appeared from nowhere and tragically gunned her down.
I was sent on a course and returned a Technical Sergeant (I had been a ‘private‘)
I was married to Iris in 1940 and, apart from a brief visit from her whilst I was in Scotland finishing our training near Dundee, at a place called Carnegie Golf Course. I would not get to see her again until 1946, which was a terribly long time!

I remember being stationed in Algiers in North Africa. We travelled on a Dutch boat that had people travelling from America to Gibraltar. On landing at Algiers, we encountered problems with the Arabs there.
The Eighth Army came to deal with El Alemein, which was cleared, and our job was to stop Rommel by bottling up the other end of the route at a place called Tunis.
We were allowed a rest at Tunis for a short time and then we were sent off to land at Sicily where the enemy shelled and bombed us unrepentantly all through the night but, by some kind of miracle, did not manage to hit any of our ships! We lost not a single man that night and we counted our blessings for that.
Our second landing in Sicily was under the command of American General George Pattern, where we took over Sicily jointly with the Americans.

After that, we were to storm the Italian troops, but, on arrival, we discovered that they had all retreated up to the North! We then went to a place called Barri (check spelling) where our mission was to stop the Germans blowing up the bridges. The Germans had left us some nasty surprises for us in the form of land mines that were set of by trip wires cunningly hidden around a tempting orchard of oranges. Many men, who were understandably thirsty, and, attempting to retrieve one, were wounded by these.

I n 1942, us troops put on a concert called ‘Orphans in Shambles’ that I produced, which really lifted our spirits! Of course, we were supposed to receive films to watch but only one, starring Bob Hope, ever arrived.

Before leaving North Africa, I unfortunately contracted Malaria, which was awful. I made my way to the field hospital, which was located in a valley some miles behind enemy lines, which, in winter, flooded terribly. The beds would almost float along in the pools of water! With all the malaria ridden mosquitoes about the last thing we wanted was a breeding ground for them! I was quite pally with the nurses and the wardens though, so that was useful as they would sometimes slip me an extra sandwich or bottle of water. With my illness though, I would be sick all night so sadly not much stayed down.

After I spent three days looking for my unit, (I hitched a lift in a ‘friendly’ truck) I managed to get back to the troops. Three moths after having Malaria I had Dysentery. This is a terrible and very dangerous illness, worse in fact than Malaria, because a person can literally lose stones in weight in a matter of days. The Medical Officer (M.O) decided to treat me himself rather than send me to the field hospital. After my experiences there I didn’t really fancy that anyway. Jaundice followed,a result of all the terrible illness and also the fact that the food at the hospital was often served by people who looked twice as ill as I did.

I then went on with my unit to Monte Casino and this was absolutely freezing as by now, it was the winter and we were stationed up the mountain. One poor soul died from exposure simply going off to relieve him.
Something that struck as strange was the fact that the Italians who lived in this area spoke a different dialect to the ones based in the city.

After the horrific events at Mont Casino, we moved on up north, following the main river from Naples along to Highway 6. The river, which runs right across Italy, proved to tricky for the Germans to cross with their horses and so they left 100’s of them behind on the far side which ended up being sold to the Italian drivers. The Italian farmers demanded receipts to say that they had paid for them.
We travelled on to Rimini, near Venice, on a forward post, upon leaving there, the Americans moved in.

In 1946, the year after war ended, I was in Austria and a place called Lake Velden. My unit was part of the big clean-up operation and my regiment was then allowed to rest a while there while I waited to be demobbed. I arrived home on April the 18th. I know this as it was, ironically, the same date that I had joined up.

I was very glad to see my wife, Iris, again after so long and this is what made me choose to leave the army after the end of the war. I had been top sergeant and if I had been single, I may have chosen to remain serving.

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