大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Deena Campbell from CSV Action Desk on behalf of Mr Ian James Pidduck and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr Pidduck fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

I volunteered for the army in November 1943 at the age of 16 and a half. They would not take me on until I was 17.

I enlisted 4th May 1944. I was sent to Lanock in Scotland where I did my basic training which lasted eight weeks. I was then posted to Lark Hill Wiltshire to the Royal Artillery School of Gunnery. I trained as a Gunner on 25 Pounders, as a Wireless Operator and also as a driver of an assortment of vehicles.

I was posted to a transit camp near Antwerp in Belgium in February 1945. I wasn't there long before being sent to the 53rd Worcestershire Yeoman Flight Landing Regiment Royal Artillery which was part of the 6th Airborne Division. I was sent to replace casualties of the Rhine Crossing. My job there was as a Wireless Operator. I cannot remember the places we advanced through in Germany. There were very few towns, and we mostly moved at night time.
We crossed The River Weser towards Hanover. Then over Luneborg Heath where the armistice was signed ending the war in Europe. We ended up near Weimar by the Baltic. I remember a large lake nearby and the Russians were the other side of it. Within a few days, the whole 6th Airborne Division moved back to England as we were to drop on Japan. Myself and others who had not trained as a parachutist went on a crash course. I fractured my ankle badly on the 3rd jump and of course was hospitalised for a while.

In February 1946 I was sent to Italy to a Barracks by Campino near Rome to train as a Military Policeman. After training I was posted to Rome to do duty there. That was June 1946.

I was released from the Army (B Release) on 14th November 1946.

By Ian James Pidduck.

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