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The late Jo Grimond, former Liberal Party leader, joined our 53rd Infantry division HQ in Belfast in 1940. He was mess secretary to Major-General BT Wilson's 'A' mess, which was situated in the first three houses in University Square, now the Queen's University English department. 'A' mess accommodated the General and Colonels and 'B' and 'C' messes were for the lesser officers.

He later became the deputy assistant Adjutant General and stayed with the Division until 1945, when he left to try for a parliamentary seat in the Orkneys - a post he finally achieved in 1950.

In his memoirs he relates some of what happened in Normandy. We went ashore and reached an area 400 yards from the German lines. There, for the first time, we heard the heavy machine gun rattle of enemy arms, and the screams of mortars. At the same time we were comforted to hear the whines and crashing explosions caused our Naval protectors a few miles off-shore. Their armaments whistled over our heads into the distance, destroying the enemy defences erected to prevent the invasion.

Next day we passed through Bayeaux to prepare for the part we were to play in the battle for Caen. We were 'in reserve' at first, and from beyond Bayeaux we witnessed the very heavy bombing of Caen by the allied planes. Caen was heavily defended by the enemy because of its importance for access roads to the east.

Here it might be of interest to describe the scene and situation as a Divisional HQ is set up. 'A' staff sees to the role of the military police and discipline. 'Q' staff deal with other arms and services attached to the HQ, such as artillery, engineers, signals and ordnance. 'G' deal with battle plans and instructions. Usually all these divisions are housed in Bedford trucks with canvas extensions, housed under trees and camouflaged, and connected by field telephone. Thus the HQ is mobile and always ready to move off to keep an eye on its Units.

The battle for Caen was fierce, and when it was won we progressed. The devastation caused to the retreating German army is almost indescribable. Their vehicles had been strafed by the RAF, and their horses were lying by the road along with the bodies of their troops. Tank crews had been caught in their exploding tanks and scorched to cinders. We had seen some of our troops who had suffered the same fate.

By 18th August we were in Leffard-Falaise where there was much heavy shelling and mortaring by the Germans, whose 7th army was trying to escape through the 'Falaise Gap.'

The weather had been hot, and the roads were very dusty. The dust was fine like talcuum powder, and caused irritation to the skin. We used to bathe in hot water, stored in a couple of biscuit tins from the field kitchen, which wasn't much more than a tin itself - about 5 feet long and 3 feet high. Heat to boil and cook was generated by a flame thrower, although we often had tins of soup which self-heated upon opening.

During the crossing of the Seine and the Somme we pitched up our HQ in 12 different locations. We arrived in Belgium on 7th September 1944. Other divisions had been clearing the Germans from Antwerp to use the port for supplies, rather than bringing them from Normandy by road. Our division - the 53rd - arrived in Mortzel outside Antwerp on 17th September and rested. Myself and two other soldiers were spotted by an attractive young lady whose parents had implored her to invite the first Allied soldiers she saw to their home. We made friends with this family, who lived in Chevalier Van Ranst, and I still communicate with Jose, the young woman, who now lives with her husband in Aartselaar, Belgium. I still have a letter from Jose's mother who worked during the war to rescue Jewish people at great risk, and was honoured for this after the war.

Later we crossed the Nijmegan bridge under heavy shelling and took Hertogenbosch, surprising the Germans by sending tanks down the railway line. This Dutch town now hosts an annual celebration for our Division. We then went on to occupy the town of Oss, before switching to the British Army's eastern flank because of an enemy threat across the Deurne canal. Six weeks hard slog followed in harsh November days of cold and rain. We then drew back near Herentals in Belgium. The American lines had been broken and the battle of the Bulge was about to take place.

I had been looking forward to Christmas dinner for ages, but in the early dawn of Christmas Day we were making our way into Ardennes country, again encountering V1 and V2 rockets. It was very snowy and bitterly cold - akin, perhaps, to what the German army had experienced on the snowy Russian steppes. We were assisting the American troops to regain territory at this point.

Later, we were moved back to Holland, near Eindhoven, to prepare for Operation Veritable. We were placed under the 1st Canadian army, and, in the operation, 1000 guns are said to have fired over three quarters of a million shells.

Meanwhile, 53 Division awaited zero hour at Groesbeek. From here we began a hard struggle through the Reichwald forest, where the trees seemed to be all severed in half thanks to a pounding by British and German artillery. It was very difficult terrain, and replenishing supplies and ammunition was very hard. It seemed a along time before we found ourselves in sight of the Rhine.

We crossed the great river at Xanten, and none of us would ever forget the German shelling as we waited for the engineers to secure the pontoon bridge. Our march on praise from General Dempsey, who said:

'You fought like tigers, and by winning the battle as you did you opened the way for the second army to get through to the Elbe and so to the Baltic. It was a decisive victory.'

53rd Division's last battle was near the Hamburg-Bremen autobahn. We then occupied Hamburg, which surrendered on 4th May 1945.

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