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I was called up at the age of 19 and joined the Royal Army Service Corps. After 3 months foot training and 3 months driving training, I became part of the 147th Bridging Company. In 1944, thirteen days after D-Day, I went to France to join the invading Allied Forces.

We had a platoon of about 30 lorries transporting bridge panels to a particular site where another group of soldiers would then construct a ‘Bailey Bridge’. We were stopped in Normandy for quite a while until our forces broke out, then after approximately 3 months we made it to Brussels.’
On September 17th, ‘Operation Market Garden’ began with Allied troops parachuting into Nijmegen and Arnhem.

We were sent to the borders of Holland, following the tanks up a single road and putting bridges up on the way. We went as far as Nijmegen, about 10-15 miles outside of Arnhem and were stopped there for about 2 weeks.

We went on to Germany. We were on the go for seven days carrying bridging to the Rhine. On route we’d sleep under the stars or in the lorries.

I remember that you really looked forward to receiving mail. Letters were very important.

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