大象传媒

Introduction
This is the story of a Husband, Father, Grandfather and in some cases a Great-Grandfather鈥檚 time during the Second World War.
He fought along side many thousands of good men and be it hard fighting, strong spirit or just sheer luck he was one of the few who made it home.
Some of Guardsman Simpson鈥檚 friends and comrades however did not make it home, nor did they ever see the future which their courage and lives have helped to build.
This short account is told in Steve鈥檚 very own words and is taken from a taped interview during 2002鈥mitting the odd blasphemy or two of course!
As one of his Grandchildren I wanted to record the essence of my Grand Fathers stories for not only my family now but our future generations.
We have all grown up knowing the importance of what has happened and to have our very own piece of living history among us was an opportunity that could not go amiss!
Guardsman Simpson.S 2664217 fought for his country and returned to live a very full and active life.
I am proud and grateful to be a descendant of the Simpson family and I鈥檓 sure that like me the other members of the family are too.
I hope you enjoy the book lest forgetting the good, strong woman who 鈥榓ppend t鈥檓arry a soldier鈥� and raised a family from strong stock with plenty of love to go around.
To both of you鈥hank you!

Chapter One
鈥淚t鈥檒l do you the world of good!鈥�

When I was in the army we use to go down the front and there was this guy called Jim.
But I will tell you about Jim, Bull Dimment later on, we just have to stay on the right line in the beginning!

From being a schoolboy I always wanted to be a soldier.
On leaving school at 14 in 1938 I started working in a coal mine in Micklefield Collier.
Then in 1939 the Second World War broke out and everything went sort of weird in the fact that all the lights went out in the street, houses were blacked out, everyone was issued with a gas mask incase the Germans might use gas on us, this was at the beginning of the war.
When I was 17 I鈥檇 had enough of working the mines and I asked my father 鈥榗ould I join the army?鈥�
鈥淲ell鈥� he replied 鈥淒on鈥檛 be such a fool there is a war on! Keep working the coalmine.鈥�
But I was determined I wanted to be a soldier.
鈥淲ell I won鈥檛 stand in your way but if you make your bed you lie on it you see! And don鈥檛 come to me squealing if the life isn鈥檛 what you expected.鈥�
So with that I went to the Army Recruiting Office in Leeds which was on Templar Street.
I saw the Recruiting Sergeant and I had my up and down, he said 鈥淣ow then my boy what do you want?鈥�
鈥淚 want to be a soldier and I want to join the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry.鈥�
He started filling the forms and said 鈥淣ow then鈥� and took my name and so forth.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 your occupation?鈥� he asked.
I said that I worked in the coal mine; I wasn鈥檛 a miner I worked on the underground haulage. 鈥淲ell I鈥檓 sorry my lad you have to go home and carry on working because it鈥檚 a reserved occupation.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檓 volunteering鈥� I said 鈥淚 want to be a soldier!鈥�
鈥淲ell I鈥檓 very sorry鈥� and he must have seen the disappointed on my face because he followed that with 鈥淲ell just a moment. There is a regiment that are recruiting for regular soldiers.鈥� So I said 鈥淎nd what regiment is that?鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 the Coldstream Guards!鈥�
鈥淥h I don鈥檛 know about that.鈥�
鈥淵oung man鈥� he replied 鈥渋t鈥檒l do you the world of good.鈥� And his forecast was true it did do me the world of good!
The difference between the Infantry and the Guards was that the Guardsman was supposed to be the elite and had really hard and tough training whereas the light Infantry Man he was well鈥eputed to be a more or of a more etiquette soldier.
So he said 鈥淗ow old are you son?鈥�
鈥淚鈥檓 18.鈥�
He said 鈥淎nd how old are you?鈥�
鈥淲ell I鈥檓 19.鈥�
鈥淭hat鈥檒l do.鈥� Said he 鈥淎nd sign here!鈥� I was 17 years old at the time, I was underage!
Anyway I had to report for a medical examination which was ok and early January I got my papers to call me up.
I had to join the Regiment on the 9th January 1941. I reported to the Recruitment Officer on the morning of the 9th and 6 of us were sworn in together. All local boys like, there was a lad called Bob Fowler, Bill Fish, Norman Bryant and an older man called Winston Burton and that was the six of us who went down and was sworn in together.
Then we went down by train to London and this was in 1941.
There was a lot of blitzing had been done on London and we were absolutely amazed at the amount of damage when we arrived in London y鈥檏now. In our area we鈥檇 had nothing, I think one bomb dropped near the Woodpecker in Leeds there y鈥檏now and that was the amount of bombing at that time like, but I gather afterwards we had one or two raids on Leeds.
So from London we got another train down to Caterham and it was a drizzly, miserable evening by the time we got to Caterham on the Hill Barracks.
We landed there dismounted at the barracks gates and Norman, who was a bit of boyo, (laughs) puts his case down and sit鈥檚 on it!
We said 鈥淐ome on Norman lets get inside like.鈥� He says 鈥淵ou gee up messin.鈥� He says 鈥淚鈥檓 taking me time I says, cos I don鈥檛 know how long it鈥檒l be before they let me out of there!鈥� (laughs)
So we reported to the Guard eventually. There was a young man on sentry and there was a what they call a Picket Sentry on the entrance to the Guardroom.
We goes into the guardroom and stared at the Guard who was a big outstanding Grenadier Guard.
And he said 鈥淣ow then what are you fellas wanting?鈥� I said 鈥淥h we鈥檙e Coldstream recruits.鈥�
Well he gave a scream for the Picket Sentry who came flying in and he said 鈥淓scort these chaps down the reception centre.鈥�
This young man the Picket Sentry he set off down the road like a whirlwind and we were running and trotting at the back of him with our little cases in our hands.
We stayed the night in reception then the following morning we were given a physical examination and then we were given an army haircut, this meant that you were left with a little tuft at the front of your head like y鈥檏now.
Bill Trotter who was with us. At that time of day had what was called the Boston Cut this was a very long hair style.
So Bill got in the chair and said to the Irish Guardsman 鈥淚鈥檇 like a short back and sides please.鈥� (laughs) the barber said 鈥淎lright son I鈥檒l make it nice and neat for you!鈥�
There was bloody hair all over the place and Bill finished up like the rest of us with a little tuft at the front. He looked in the mirror and I could see tears in his eyes. (Laughs)
Anyway from there we had to have the dental inspection then all that was done and then we were inoculated.
From there we went to the Quarter Masters and were given all our equipment y鈥檏now.
Uniform, webbing equipment, all your pouches and what not, blankets, Rifle and a Bayonet which was the old short nosed Lenfield Rifle.
I had been in the Home Guard prior to joining the army so I had fired a rifle, it wasn鈥檛 a thing to be feared y鈥檏now.
The first time that I held a gun, actually it was a ROSS 300 Rifle was when they formed the Home Guard in June 1940 and I volunteered for it.
I think we鈥檇 about 3 or 4 rifles between the whole squad so we use to take it in turns on Guard and have these rifles, that鈥檚 when I first started hold of a rifle and when I first fired one.
As a recruit at the Guards Depot like I say you were issued with a rifle, a bayonet and that sort of thing it was part of your equipment and they said it was 鈥榶our best friend!鈥�
Well in later years I鈥檇 a disagreed with them because my best friend became me shovel!
Dig a bloody hole and get down y鈥檚ee, so like I said to them 鈥榳ell my best friend was me shovel!鈥�
It was a smashing rifle like and familiarity grew with using it every day, then you鈥檇 go on the ranges and you鈥檇 fire a round or two.
You never thought about it you knew possibly one day you might have to go into action but at that age you thought it was an adventure.
Y鈥檏now you thought 鈥極h Gun Hoe lets go sort 'em out!鈥� You never thought of the reality.
You got use to it, it was a part of you was your rifle and as I say they did say it was your best friend I suppose it was in a way, but I still declare my best friend was me shovel particularly when we were in action y鈥檏now, active service.
Anyway from then we were formed into what was called a squad in 13th Company at Caterham, ours was a Sergeant Boxer Brown, Bill Brown. He鈥檇 been quite a good boxer in his time and there was also what they called a Trained Solider who was in charge of the Barrack Room y鈥檚ee.
He was the one that would show you how to get your equipment together an all the cleaning an so forth.
So after about a fortnight when the whole squad was assembled about 25 of us Sergeant Brown took us and we started the drill, the foot drill and then we went onto Arms Drill and then periodically we had an inspection. A four-week inspection and then an eight week and then it came into the sixteenth and it was your final Pass Out.
Well during that period of time you learned musketry field crafts and ceremonial drill and all the regimental history and anything to do with the regiment which was drummed into you y鈥檏now and you had to if you were asked a question, you had to be on your toes to answer it.
They taught us the history of the Coldstream Guards, it was formed in 1650, at Coldstream and that鈥檚 how they got the name. They were formed in 1650 and they were part of Oliver Cromwell鈥檚 new army who were the protectors for England at the time. They were based at Coldstream on the Berwick on Tweed border. In 1660 the regiment marched from Coldstream down to London to a place called Tower Hill in London where they laid down their arms.
By this time Oliver Cromwell had departed the scene and King Charles the second had come onto the thrown. On this particular time The Coldstream laid down their arms from Oliver Cromwell and took them up in the name of the King.
And from thence they have always been along with the Grenadiers, Scots Guards, Irish Guards and Welsh Guards they had always been the House Hold Regiments you see.
Knowing the history made us exceedingly proud particularly when you passed out of Caterham as a Guardsman.
There were no other Regiment like it you were the top one y鈥檏now although saying this a chap in the Pioneer Core as a solider would have that same thought about his own regiment!
I thoroughly enjoyed my sixteen weeks at Caterham although your life was very regimented and everything was laid out in order of what you had to do.
We were particularly lucky that we had a smashing sergeant who taught us very well and was a good trained solider.
Some of the NCO鈥檚 were less than desirable, as I say we were very fortunate in having our particular one.
From there we went to Pirbright which was called the Training Battalion.
Here you were taught firing on the ranges, lots of drill, then room marching and preparing you for anything and everything鈥reparing you for war like y鈥檚ee!
We were prepared physically and mentally, but at the end of the day it was down to you when you were on the front line.
During that period at Pirbright you were allowed to take specialist courses, these were either the Mortar Platoon, the Signal Platoon, the MT Platoon (transport) or the Carrier Platoon, even cookery too!
Well I fancied myself been a Carrier Driver so I took a Carrier course and we passed out from that. You were driver and maintainer of the vehicle, a small track armoured vehicle.
From there after the period of training, in the October 1941 the 5th Battalion was formed.
These were all the roughs and scruffs from all the other battalions the bad lads which they were pleased to get rid of finished up in the 5th Battalion!
There were chaps that had done time for burglary, fighting, been drunk and disorderly anything you could think of and one of these fellas had done it like y鈥檚ee.
You can imagine we were all sorts of scruffs and we were put amongst this rabble.
It turned out they were the finest fellas you could wish to meet. (His voice now breaking.)
Let me just compose myself鈥︹�uring this period the black out was in progress and in certain areas where there were static water tanks or big things like that y鈥檚ee, just incase fire bombs were dropped you were training how to deal with things like.
From there they decided鈥� actually we were going to be an independent brigade and they were going to send us to North Africa. But then they decided they would form a Guards Armoured Division, so our brigade went in as |Infantry for the tanks and we were trained together down in Salisbury.
Then we trained in different parts of the country, y鈥檏now, as a division. The types of country they trained us in must have been thought about, there must have been some marvellous thinking because after that training whenever and wherever we went in Europe there we found ourselves in similar types of country y鈥檚ee, which we fought across.
Eventually after years of training all over the place after different kinds of training, landing the ships and so forth, beach landings and so on, we finally finished up in Eastbourne.
We got all the vehicles ready for landing and on the 6th of June we were ready to go and the invasion started.
It was absolutely amazing, that evening around a thousand bombers came over head to go over to the bombings and what a sight that was! It was a thrill to see them like, y鈥檏now.
So from there we moved up to a holding area in London at Wanstead Flats, it were a camp with a barbed wire fence around and once you were in there you weren鈥檛 allowed out!

See chapter two for more......

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