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Leslie was called up in May 1942 at Tidworth Barracks Tank Training and transferred to Barnard Castle, County Durham, Yorkshire. In November he was posted to Kilmarnock, Scotland on a Sunday but on the following Sunday he was on a boat to Algers on the SS Staffordshire. The journey took 7 days avoiding the U boats.

The regiment landed and moved to Medjez-el-bab. From there they went to Kasserene Pass and into action. Leslie was a tank driver and a typical day consisted of going into action at sunrise, returning at sunset when the infantry took over to consolidate. The regiment returned for food and water, ammunition, petrol, oil, they had to refuel, clean their weapons etc. They might be lucky to get an hour's sleep between rotating with the crew on guard duty until sunrise.

The crew never slept under the tank for the simple reason that if it rained the tank would sink into the ground and flatten anyone underneath.

Leslie was in Algeria for two years and moved to Italy where he became a staff car driver.

He remembers driving for Brigadiar Dawnay, Area Commander, Northern Italy stationed in Venice. Leslie was in Venice for two years and returned home for demob after being away from home for 4 years.

Whilst working for the Brigadiar he was asked to get a new uniform which was refused by the QM, until the next day when the Brigadiar saw the QM himself and insisted that the uniform be replaced. The uniform was made of Canadian material which was better quality than the British Uniforms. Leslie wore the uniform to get married on 8th September 1945, the diamond wedding anniversary is next year.

[This story was submitted to the People's War site by Wolverhampton Libraries on behalf of Leslie Andrews and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions]

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