大象传媒

My name is Albert Ramsden, known as Derry within the family. I was born in October 1928 and at the outbreak of World War Two I was living with my parents and younger brother in married quarters on the North-West frontier of India at an area which is now Pakistan.

My father Arthur was a battery sergeant in the Royal Artillery and his regiment was sent to North Africa while the women and children were left to come back to the United Kingdom by sea, arrangements having been made by the military. We spent almost a week travelling on a train before boarding the ship at Bombay or Karachi, I can鈥檛 remember which. The ship docked at Port Said over Christmas 1939. My mother was given a 24-hour pass to spend the night in a hotel with my father. Then my father together with other members of the regiment were given leave to travel to Marseille in France where we boarded a train to cross France to Cherbourg, where we caught a ship to Southampton, arriving early in the morning in thick fog on January 7th 1940. After disembarking we caught a train to London where we were met by members of my family. As there were no married quarters available now that the war was on we lived with members of the family until my Mother was able to rent a house in Toronto Road, Leytonstone, E11 where the three of us lived throughout the war. I attended school togethere with other children who had not been evacuated. Lessons were frequently disrupted by air raid warnings. During air raids we would take to the Anderson shelter in our garden until the all-clear. After the age of 12 boys were expected to help the air raid wardens in some way by keeping watch for fires after a raid or running messages. We would also help bring injured people back to the first aid point at the school where they would be collected by ambulance.

After I left school at Christmas 1942 I worked in Stratford, East London and within a few months of starting work I was taken ill with mumps. I remember the doctor coming to see me in my bedroom and saying to my Mother that I must stay in bed and under no circumstances should I stand on my feet or attempt to get out of bed as it would have serious consequences. So while my Mother and brother went to the air raid shelter during the raids I had to stay in bed and take my chance.

After I recovered from the mumps I remember we were in a shelter when a bomb dropped close by and shook the shelter. After the all-clear we returned indoors to find the front door off its hinges and the only windows we had left had all been blown out.

I am proud to tell you that my Mother looked after my brother and myself exceptionally well. We didn not see much of my father during the war and he was killed on 15th April 1945, just three weeks before the end of the war in Europe. I was aged 16.

A letter of condolence from his senior officer was the first news of his death - it reached my mother before the official notification that he had died in action in Europe. We did eventually get a scroll like every family got after the death of a serving officer. And we were also given some embroidery of his regimental badge that he was doing as occupational therapy when he was in hospital with malaria. He never finished it because he got better and went back to his unit.

The letter my mother got reads: "Dear Mrs Ramsden. Your husband was killed in action yesterday by a shell that hit a truck near which he was standing. He suffered no pain as his death was instantaneous. He was a magnificent example of cheerfulness and courage during all these difficult times and he was a most loyal warrant officer and personal friend to me. His death is a great grief to me personally and he is mourned by the whole regiment. I send my deepest sympoathy, I can say no more. |Nothing that anyone can say can help you in this time. If you want any further information I will tell you all I can. Have courage."

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