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I grew up in the village, Tilney St Lawrence, and can remember going to school one day in about 1938 or 1939. The man who ran the grocers shop was a brownshirt, and I remember them coming to take him away. There must have been about forty soldiers here that day.

When I was old enough, I joined the Royal Norfolk’s. In 1944 we were over in Northern France, and made our way through to Holland. Basically we went from one holding camp to another.

I do remember though that we captured the Beck’s Brewery. B Coy went round the back, while D Coy took the front. There was some fighting, but I don’t think we took any casualties. It was brilliant though! The CO secured the camp and refused to let anyone else in — until we had loaded up our lorries with beer and were ready to move off.

The Company was then sent to join SHAPE, and we had to go into villages with the Americans to offer protection from the Russians. I remember going into one Russian DP Camp, and seeing the heaps of clothes, bones, teeth etc.

We were told that we were being sent to Kentucky to retrain for the Far East, and made our way to Gent, Dieppe and on to Toulon, before boarding a ship. Instead of going to the states, we went to Port Said in Egypt before being deployed into Palestine. Here we became part of the Lincolns. We were there three years in the end. I tell you something though. I never did a parade after I left the Norfolk’s. Roll call, yes, but never a proper parade.

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