I joined the army october 1942 at Sheffield iwas trained by the KOYLI,S Then moving on to the R.A,S.C at Endcliffe Hall for two months training
i was a transport driver before i enlisted so that
was a doddle.I was then posted to Oswestry i then was posted to North Wales District H.Q.as a despatch rider for about three month then i was posted to 199 Coy R.A,S.C,atBournemouth hwhen we trained on Ford wat six on the beach transport having to waterproof the vehicles so we could go in the sea to load up from the boats,when we did this we came off the beaches wet through up to our necks we only had a towel round our necks,after that we went down to Towynin Wales to be trained i n the Dukws etc then we were all posted to Netly Abbey wher we were sent to pick up our Dukws from Castle Howard returning to Hedge End just outside Southhampton.Then to my surprise me and another driver were told to go and join the Beach H.Q.and pick up two small tack vehicles,when we picked these vehicles they were still in the artic colours white so we had to
camaflage these in the grey etc.WE were then ordered to proceed to West Wittering where we were confined to camp ready for D.Day on the 3rd June we loaded on small landing craft with a crew of four sailors we moved out on the 4th but was then ordered back to base then a ariund midnight on the 5th we again moved iut to sea on our way to France,there was a very big convoy woth a good support from the Royal Navy it was a very riugh crossing we landed around 7,45am we had been given a map reference to proceed to it was very hair raising we managed to find the reference we were the first to arrive.I can remember the first night we managed to get our heads down at around 1am we just slept in the nearest feild when i woke up at around 5am to my surprise there were around 12 cows all killed with the overnight barrage.During that morning the rest of the H.Q
staff started to arrive istayed with that H.Q
driving the brigadier i think he was called Horrocks for about one month then i rejoined 199
coy which i then took up my normal duties on the
Dukws.
 | 15 October 2014 |
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