- Contributed by听
- derbycsv
- People in story:听
- Alan Oldfield, Mary Oldfield
- Location of story:听
- Rome
- Background to story:听
- Army
- Article ID:听
- A4894879
- Contributed on:听
- 09 August 2005
Just a few days before she was notified of his death, Alan鈥檚 mother, Mary, received a letter from him at home in Alport to say that she was not to worry about him as he was all right, and had attended a church service and stayed for Holy Communion held in a wood. Before he was recruited to the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment in 1942 at the age of 19, Alan had served his apprenticeship as a joiner with DSF at Friden, and had previously been a popular Boy Scout patrol leader and choirboy. He was sent to fight in Italy two years later and within two months of disembarkation he was dead. The Allied advance had been halted north of Rome as the German Army made a stand on the Gustav Line, and there was a heavy price to pay for the breakthrough in which Alan was killed. He died on 28th June 1944, aged 21, and is buried in the Assisi War Cemetery.
This story was donated by Andrew McCloy and Norman Wilson was submitted to the site by Alison Tebbutt, Derby CSV Action Desk. The author has given his permission and fully understands the site's terms and conditions.
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