大象传媒

Len Harris (5340991)remembers

I was 21 when the war began and living in Stoke Poges. I was working as a landscape gardener in Stoke Poges Memorial Gardens and I had got married the year before. My daughter was born in October 1940. I was called up in 1939 aged 22 and went to Church Street, High Wycombe for my medical. I passed A1 and was sent to the Royal Berkshire regiment. I joined the Infantry and served as a gunner and a driver mechanic. I felt devastated having to leave my family to go to war.

I remember how my uniform was rough and bad fitting but I felt proud to wear it. Our uniforms didn鈥檛 get washed; instead they were deloused when we came back from the front line to have a rest and re-group. This was done whilst you were wearing them. Rifles were inspected every day and if they were found to be dirty you would get extra duty.

The food I particularly remember eating was corned beef, stew, sausages and plum duff. We didn鈥檛 have plates but we had mess tins which were made of metal. Sometimes I received parcels from home containing tobacco, cigarettes, sweets and biscuits. Sometimes the parcels were all unwrapped and what was left of the contents was damaged. My wife and mother wrote to me and I wrote back but I couldn鈥檛 tell the truth about what was happening because our letters were censored. I remember I was very worried about my family being bombed. During the war I had home leave every 6 months but sometimes leave was cancelled at the last moment.

I was first sent to fight in France in 1940 and during the war I went to Belgium, Holland and Germany as well. I remember being in the Black Forest where we destroyed a lot of V1 and V2 rockets. In Holland I witnessed a concentration camp and will never forget the scenes I saw. In July 1945 I took part in the British Victory Parade in Berlin where I saw Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin.

One of the worst battles I fought in was the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium. It was very, very cold and it was snowing and we had artificial moon light to guide us. Apart from that, one of the biggest battles I fought in was Arnhem. We were almost in Germany but we fought on Arnhem Bridge which was later to become very famous in a film called A Bridge too far.

Your comrades were very important. We all got on well, we always tried to keep one another cheerful. I also got on well with the Russian and American soldiers that I met.

I started off as a private and became a corporal. I received several medals for my years of service including the 1939-45 Stars, the France and Germany Star, the Defence Medal and the Victory Medal.

After the war ended it was another six months before I was discharged home. I was 6 long years in the services and I鈥檓 lucky to have survived. Every year I do a British Legion march to pay my respects to my comrades who didn鈥檛 come back.

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