John Cory's story from his Memoir "A Span of Years 42-47" was left to the family and has been edited by his son Richard Cory for inclusion in this archive.
John Cory was born in 1915 in Finchley North London and was the son of Ernest and Ellen Cory. He had a grammar school education in Barnet and as a young man was a keen cyclist.
In the late 30s he got a job at Brush Coachworks and relocated to Loughborough Leic's where he was at the outbreak of war.
During the early years of the war he was in a reserved occupation making aircraft for the war effort and serving in the home guard.
It was during the war, 1941 that he met my mother Doris Allaby, marrying in July 1942.
Towards the end of 1942 he lost his reserved status and was duly called up. After basic training because he showed an aptitude for maths he was sent on a survey course and subsequently posted to 8th Survey Regiment.
His army career saw him joining 8th Survey Regiment in North Africa initially and then on to Italy where he spent most of the rest of the war.
John Cory was in the thick of some of the heaviest fighting in Italy, from the attack through the Gustav Line and Monte Cassino, northwards through the Gothic Line and Northern Italy to the foothills of the alps. Even being loaned out to the American 5th Army for a while
Because of his late call up, when the war ended he was one of the later ones to come home. The 2 years between the end of the war and demob in 1947 were spent doing such things as guarding Rommels Afrika Corps, occupation duties near the Yugoslav border, and guarding Yugoslav royalists, as well as more relaxing things such as art courses and visiting tourist locations in Italy.
After the war John Cory became a sales manager for Brush Electrical Engineering in Loughborough and had two children. He passed away in 1998.
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