Harold Wagstaff was my father. He was born in Nottingham in 1915 and passed away in December 2002. He was absolutely devoted to my mother, Ivy to whom he was married for 63 years.
When I was young I used to like to hear stories of his exploits during the War but invariably Mum would moan at him and tell him to shut up. I always suspected that my mother thought it had been a waste of five years of their lives.
After Ivy passed away in 2000 I suggested that Dad should write his memoirs and for the last two years of his life that is what he did. Although he did not quite finish them, the chapter about the War was by far the longest, which confirmed my long held suspicion that, in fact it had been a very important period of his life for which he had very vivid memories. He had been a Sergeant in the Royal Engineers serving in India, the Middle East, North Africa and Italy.
I have converted the single chapter from his memoirs into the eight chapters which make up his contribution to this archive, a contents list for which is shown below. I hope a few people will find them of interest. I am only sorry that my Dad is no longer with us. I know he would have been very proud and pleased to think that his story could be made available to such a wide audience.
(We have included a few photographs in Harold's story but have more along with one or two documents including a short manual on Bailey Bridges).
Martin Wagstaff November 2005
Recommended story
Story with photo