大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Stoke-on-Trent Libraries on behalf of Kenneth Dean and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I joined up when I was 17 in the church in Bethesda Street in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent. I did about 12 months with the South staffs in England and joined the Royal Engineers in 1941. We were in the Young Soldiers Battalion (70th)and when that was disbanded we were sent where we were good enough for.
I served my time in the docks in Cardiff and London, then in November 1942 we shipped abroad to invade north Africa. It was about November 20th. We went right up to Tunis with the American 1st Army. We stayed there until 12th May 1943 when the war in Africa finished.
In July 1943 we invaded Sicily with the American 5th Army. The next landing was Salerno in Italy on September 9th. We moved up to Naples and from there on January 22nd 1944, did another landing - Anzio.
After that we stayed in Italy but moved back to Naples. While there I saw Vesuvius erupt. I stayed there until November 1946, getting all the equipment back via the docks. Being one of the youngest I was one of the last to be demobbed.
I have the 1939 Star, the Africa Star, the Italy star, the Defence medal and the 1939-45 War Medal.

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