Gasson family history

The life of William (Bill) Gasson M.M, born 12th December 1918 to 5th July 2008.

Citation

5387495 WS/corporal GASSON. W. M.M.

Cpl. Gasson has been a section commander in a platoon of a Rifle Company since September 1944 and during this period has shown himself to be a leader of considerable resource and proved gallantry

At the battle of LE HARVE the section under command of this NCO captured several “Pill-box” positions containing a large number of prisoners, and silenced an 88 MM gun with small arms fire.

At TURNHOUT this NCO’s section had to cover the withdrawal of the company across the TURNHOUT CANAL after the completion of a large scale raid. Cpl. Gasson carried out his task with great skill and stubbornness, directing a great volume of fire against considerable numbers of advancing enemy, and thereby enabled every man in his company to be withdrawn in safety.

In several other actions, notably at WOUW and DINTELOORD, Cpl. Gasson has led his section with great dash and gallantry during the attack, and any success achieved by his company have been in a large way due to this NCO’s skill and leadership.

Cpl. Gasson has also proved himself to be an outstanding leader whilst in command of either reconnaissance or fighting patrols, and has to his credit more than twenty such operations. He could always be relied upon to carry out these patrols, however hazardous, with success.

For continuous, gallant and successful work over a long period it would be difficult to name any NCO who has a better record than Cpl Gasson, or who has contributed more to the well-being, safety and success of his comrades in action. He is an outstanding example of a junior leader who is the backbone of a unit, under all active service conditions.

(Sgd) D.A.D.EYKINS Lieut-Colonel
Commanding, 11th Bn The Royal Scots Fusiliers

BLA 13 Jun 45
My mother Francis Edith Groombridge was living with her Aunt Fanny at the Sundial in Great Haseley, at the same time my father Edward Gasson was working at the Bakehouse for my Mother's uncle Walter Cross. Francis and Edward were married at Haseley on the 29th April 1912. While Father was working at the Bakery he won a diploma one year and a Gold Medal at the Bakery Exhibitions in London for a Cottage Loaf, I still have the medal.
After their marriage Mother and Father bought a Bakery business at High Street, Woodstock and at this time they employed a man called Bertie Day, but later he was called into the Army.
Father's speciality was lardy cakes and it appears he made lots of bread rolls for the Duke of Marlborough on the occasion of his sons 21st birthday.
When my sister Miriam (Molly) or (Trout) was born on the 15th September 1913 my mother was very poorly, she then had the help of Lily Whitmarsh. On the 12th. December(1918) I put an appearance in the world and my sister Molly said she was very proud to hold me.
Unfortunately my Father who was in the Home Guard guarding the prisoners of war caught a chill and pneumonia and later meningitis and died in June 1919. I always say he took one look at me and turned up his toes.
My Mother and Bertie Day ran the business while Lily looked after the house, the final blow came Dick the horse died and it meant that had no transport and with the recession people could not pay their bills, so Mother was forced to sell the business. While Mum was sorting life out we all moved into a one up and one down house at Woodstock. Molly says this was the absolute bottom. There was no garden and the lavatories were in a row down the side. This must have been the worst time of Mum's life.
Before Mother was married she trained as a nurse up in London. She then looked around for a nursing job. In 1920 she got a job as District Nurse at Clifton Hampton and area. The house was brick built and standing back from the road.
It appears that I did not talk until I was three years old, but could walk at ten months. It was at Clifton that I started school. Although my memory is rather sketchy I can remember falling down the stone steps at school and cutting my head open (you can still see the scar when I have my hair cut). I also remember sailing boats going down the middle of the road in the floods and there was an old rotten tree, which was hollow and had fallen down, this was our headquarters. We used to go apple scrumping in the orchard next to the house.
Mother had a disagreement with local big wigs and got the push and we had just a week to get out of the house.
My sister and I then went to live at Great Haseley with my Grandmother (Esther) at Back Lane, while Mother went nursing at Goring because unfortunately, there was no house there for Molly and me. I think we stayed there about a year
In 1926 Mother obtained the nursing district at Kencot and we went to live at No.2 Red Rose Close. My Grandmother came with us too and did the cooking and other little jobs.
Gran had retired from work at the age of 72 years in 1925. She had been housekeeper to the Heathcote - Amories at Hensley Court in Tiverton North Devon for many years. She was always full of energy so could not bear to see anyone idle. If Molly sat down reading she would say 'can't you find something to do'. One of Gran's vices was her tot of whiskey in sugar and hot water when she went to bed. When we are sitting in the dining room now we very often hear a bump on the floor about ten o'clock and I would say, 'there's Gran putting her bottle down'. This used to annoy Mum because she had a job to find enough money to buy food. Molly can remember when they had to scratch around to find sixpence (two and a half pence in today's money) to pay for the milk bill. Molly says I was Gran's blue eyed boy. She even gave me a pair of football boots. I remember we always got on well because I was always on the move.
Gran had some sayings such as, 'My back is broad and my belly's wide, what my back won't bear my belly will hide'! and 'Every fool does as he is bid, except the stubborn one and he should be made to!. She also said: 'You work wonders and shit miracles'!
Gran always said she would live until I got a good job. She died soon after I got a job with the Co-op in March 1938. By then we were at 'Ivy Nook' . Now we must return to Red Rose Cottage.
I have already told you money was short. I cannot remember having any toys except one, and this was a tin Airship, which wound up and it drove a propeller. The airship was tied by a piece of string to the clothes line and it went round and round much to my delight. Somebody gave me some sweet pea seeds and I remember planting them at the side of the path, which went round the washhouse to the toilet at the back. These seeds grew well, helped by me, because I was told urine would help them grow.
I remember we had a crystal wireless set and used to spend a lot of time looking for the right spot on the crystal with a fine wire. If I got a good reception on it we used to put the earphones in a basin so we could hear.
My sister and I used to go to Filkins School. This was not a happy time for me, we used to have to walk to school some two miles every day. English was my bad subject what with lots of blots of ink, (no ballpoint pens), and my bad spelling, and I was made to use my right hand although I am really left handed, this all helped me get the cane at least once a week. I was also bullied by Cyril Clarke and others. If my sister Molly caught them, although the girls had to stay on one side of the path and boys on the other, she would wade in. It was very obvious that the Headmaster did not like me. My sister left Filkins school and went Pupil teaching at Broadwell school.
Dennis Trinder has just reminded me that I used to go and have my midday meal with them and we used to kick a ball around afterwards in the field by the Forge. For the record I took my Eleven plus exam at Filkins and needless to say I failed.
Soon after this I went to Langford school. This was not the present school, but the old one down in the middle of the village, it is now a house owned by Hardy Amies. I can remember that it had high windows and the heating was by a old round tortoise stove in the middle of the room. Once again the playground was separated, but this time there was a wall down the middle and the toilets were right across the playground and open to the elements.
I was at this school for three years and then we all went to the new school, which is the present one. This was super after the old one, instead of all the classes being in one room, we had three separate ones. The windows were low so that we could look out. (The glass in the windows was special to let the ultra violet rays in).
Here, life began to look up for me and learning seemed to be easier. We had a large playground and a large strip of grass where we could play football matches with other schools. The schoolmaster was Mr Jarvis who used to live at Black Bourton and come to school on a motor bike and sidecar, although he was strict he was a good teacher, not like Mr Dawson at Filkins. By now nearly all the others in my class were fourteen and so left school, but I stayed on for another year and spent a lot of time in the teacher's office doing lessons because I had progressed from the class room work.
At the weekends I used to deliver meat for Francis Reason who had a Butcher's shop at the bottom end of Kencot. Once, when I was delivering to a house at Clanfield, a dog came out and went for me. I threw the meat at it and ran. Butcher Reason was not to pleased. He used to call me ‘Pipes', this came from Gasson. Mr. Reason died about 1947 and Jack Oakey took over the business. He kept the shop open until 1980.
To earn more money I used to go leading horses and carts for Frankie Walker. The men loaded the carts up with the corn sheaths and it was my job to take them down to the rick yard and then take the empty cart back to the fields to reload. I used to be very proud of myself to line up at Lower End Farmhouse (Broadwell) with the men to collect my wages two shillings and six pence (25p).
I remember playing with whip tops and having hoops and chasing them up and down the road. We also had a gang headquarters which was up in the hayloft, it is now The Old Stables. The Gang was George Loader, Douglas Hook, Jack Sheppard and I. We used to repel many raiders with peashooters made from cow parsley and alls (i.e. seeds from the hawthorn.)
All the children at the top of Kencot who went to Langford school got a bicycle free from the Education Authority. Because I lived at the bottom end I was not two miles from school and I was not entitled to one, so I had to save the money from the meat delivery to buy my own bicycle. With a little help from other sources I was able to buy one from Walter Godwin, who ran a General Stores, which was situated in a hut. (it is now Gable Ends). I was so proud of my new bicycle which cost me £2 17s 6d.
We moved up to "Ivy Nook" in 1933. This was a bigger house with a larger garden. Mother having been thrown out of one house took this and rented it herself. I remember people coming to see mother in the evenings for various ailments. She used to have a large cupboard in the room, which is now the dining room and people used to wait in the passage.
In some of the escapades I used to get up to, there did not seem to be a gang leader, so I can say we were all in it. One of the favourite tricks used to be knock on doors and run away or have a button on a length of cotton and arrange it so that tapped the window. Another trick was to get a sack full of straw, climb up on the roof and put it on the chimney (at that time everybody had fires). It did not take long to work! We also used to take gates off and hide them. One firework night the local Policeman put his bicycle against the wall and chased off after some of the gang who were letting off fireworks. While this was happening the other half put a banger under his bicycle saddle. Unfortunately it blew it to pieces and the policeman was not very happy.
It is pretty well known that while we were playing football on the Village green I gave the ball a hard kick and it hit the cross on the top of the War Memorial and knocked it off. (It still rests on the wall in Churchyard). All through my life I have played all kinds of sports Cricket, football, tennis, badminton, rugby, boxing etc. I never succeeded in being really good at any of them, I think I was pretty good at tennis, but more of that later.
In the 1935 era most villages had a cricket team. There were no leagues, we only played for fun, but they all had their pride. This leads me to my baptism into cricket when Kencot was playing Aldershot and we wanted one run to draw and two to win. I was last man in so I walked out and trying to look professional I asked for middle stump. I marked the block hole and waited for the ball to arrive. When it did I missed and out went the middle stump. There was no celebrations that night! The only time I played cricket again was at Botley Road some forty years later for the Co-op Branch Managers. This time I was in third and did very well, being top scorer. More of sport later.
In 1934 I left school and until I could find a job that interested me I went to work on a poultry farm at Carterton for a Mr Owen. It was quite a large farm, some 3,000 hens, and they were housed in deep litter houses. Apart from collecting eggs we had to clean under the perches which had a platform under to catch the droppings. Every so often we had to clear the whole house out and spray it out with creosote. Of all these jobs, the worst one was to clean any dirty eggs with Vim and this was really boring.
During this time I applied for a job at Sainsbury’s but I found out that the junior staff had to live in with a lot of restrictions, such as being in at ten o'clock, so that was out.
I then got an apprenticeship at Walkers Stores at Witney. By today’s standards it was slave labour working 72hrs.a week. It was a three years apprenticeship. The first year the pay was 7/6d.(37½ p) second year it was 10/0p (50p) and the third and final year it was 12/6d.(62½ p). The hours were seven o’clock in the morning to six in the evening and eight o’clock on Saturday. Half day was Tuesday. In the first year I had to scrub the shop floor every morning, needless to say I got housemaids knee. The Manager was a Mr Charles. I learnt to pat up butter, which was brought in by the farmers. They also brought eggs and various other items. Another skill was to 'Flatwrap' dried fruit, tea, brown sugar etc. (this was having piece of paper and folding it and tucking it in at the ends). In these days of hygiene the things we did would make your hair curl. There was no refrigeration although we did have a small cupboard fridge in which the cooked meats were kept. The bacon sides were kept on shelves which just had muslin in front to keep the flies out, but of course it did not, so it meant that we had hook the maggots out and clean the bacon out with vinegar and pepper. In those days we had to go around the country side to collect grocery orders and these were later delivered by van along with any groceries left by shoppers. All the goods had to be wrapped up in a neat parcel of brown paper and string. It was a shock to me when I went to the Co-op and found the groceries being put into open cardboard boxes.
There used to be a gang of us who met in Spetter Harris Ice-cream parlour on the High St. This parlour was in the shop next to Woolworth’s. In those days it was a real old place, with high-backed bench seats. When I left Witney I had withdrawal feelings, it was here that I chummed up with Charlie Godfrey from Ducklington. We both had racing bicycles and went all over the countryside. I think the longest journey we did was to Bournemouth and back in one day and I remember getting very sun burnt.
Molly was at this time teaching at Kirtlington. In the better weather, instead of going by bus on Sunday evening, she used to cycle in the morning. This was 21 miles and I went with her and then back to Witney to work.
Nearly all our supplies used to come down from London brought by Jones carriers from Carterton usually on a Tuesday. In those days it seemed like a large van, but it was only about a 2 tonner, rather dwarfed by today's standards. Perishable goods like pies and sausages came down by passenger train from London and had to be collected every day. If we had not sold them by closing time on Saturday (eight o’clock), it always seemed to fall to me to stand on the doorstep with the blinds down and sell them cheaply. Sometimes I used to give them away because we still had to clean the counters down. This was all because I wanted to go dancing at the Corn Exchange, which shut the doors at ten o/clock.
About this time we bought a second hand car, a Morris Minor, from Morris Garages down St. Aldates. It was delivered to Kencot. Later I managed to get it out on the road (there was no tests in those days) and as it went down the drive I put my foot down, but did not straighten out and bang I went into the front wall. (Oh dear). This car had the same engine as the early M.G’s but I did not know this at first. My mate Charlie Godfrey worked in Eaton's Garage and with him we set to and tuned it up and fitted shock absorbers we removed from an old Bentley. We had fun in this and raced one another on what was virtually empty roads. It was a surprise to a lot of people that a old car would go so fast.
I left Walkers Stores and joined the Co-op in 1937, and what a difference there was between the two firms. Where Walkers was really cut and dried all very clean, the Co-op was very free and easy and not very clean mainly because the building was old and was all the fixtures and counters (there was a hole in the floor repaired by a piece off an orange box). The manager, a Mr.Tinson was a good old soul and would do anything to help you. All the male staff had to go out on bikes around the district collecting grocery orders and collecting money for the previous weeks goods. My round was at Kencott, Filkins and Bradwell Grove and Shilton areas. At Walkers Stores we had to do the same but the difference was we had a motorbike to go round on.
The Coop at Carterton sold almost anything apart from Groceries we had chicken meal, corn, paraffin, mentholated spirits etc.
It was about this time they started building Brize Norton Base, I remember seeing bulldozers and lorries all over the place, somewhere about where the iron bridge is there was a field of cabbages but they had to go as well . There used to be a track going from Brize Norton this side of the Church through to Black Bourton this was a favourite track for the Carterton Motor Club when we were running motor cycle trials .It was heart breaking to see it all being ripped up and all the mud on the roads in the area.
One day when I was collecting orders around Broadwell I met Sir William Goodenough and he said "Morning Gasson " and I replied "Morning Goodenough" and he said "don’t you know I am Sir William" and I said "don't you know I am Mr. Gasson "with that he went red faced gave his horse a kick and was off (I put this in because that was how a people were treated in those days).
Around this time I had a 150cc B.S.A. motorcycle. This poor thing I now wonder how it stood up to the canning I used to give it, it was full throttle all the time, engines in those days were simpler, I was always taking it to pieces, but it was all good fun. One day I was going at the usual full throttle when I felt the front tyre going down and instead of stopping I continued at full speed in the hopes of getting to the next village but all of a sudden the handlebars were wrenched from my hands and I found myself in the hedge. Apart from taking the bike to pieces at this stage of life my interests were playing football for Filkins and dancing.
Although I did not realise it war was around the corner. The only clue I had was that I was asked to go around Carterton fitting Gas masks I well remember I was doing this up the Alvescott road in a house and trying to demonstrate how a baby's gas mask was fitted there were lots of tears but I made it .
I cannot remember when, but the family had bought a new Morris Eight, and the old Morris tourer in which we had so much fun. I remember we used to hang out the side and call Brooklands, with the small section tyres if you went into a tight corner it would 'crab over.’
Going back to boyhood we used to go to Southsea for holidays and stay at a family called Lewkock. This was a bed and breakfast house and it was not too far from the peir, about a five minute walk. I think it was for about 8 years we went there and became good friends and several times they came to stay with us after Mr. Lewkock retired (he used to be head of all the cars, trucks, tanks etc. the Portsmouth depot ). They had two daughters and in the later days we used to go dancing together and had very good fun this was around the Band Stand on the front If we were lucky we could catch a tram down to the front which would cost the princely sum of 2d ( 1/2p ).
I was called up on the 16 Oct.1939 and had to report to Cowley Barracks. My first impression was all the solid walls, (did somebody say prison). We went into a building and there was given my army number 5387495 and we were then shown our quarters which was a long building that had 36 beds in it. I say beds but they consisted of 4 four inch boards with a cross piece which kept it off the floor, the mattress was a bag filled with straw. The mid-day food was not too bad but this was to last until tea time which consisted of two slices of bread and a wad ( this was supposed to be a Chelsea bun but wad describes it very well ) supper was a slice of bread and a piece of cheese with a mug of cocoa. This about how food was at that time to the best of my remembrance but there was always the N.A.F.F.I. although the only hot food they could produce was beans on toast .
The next day it was reveille which was played on a bugle at six thirty, then over to the wash room with cold water, breakfast was at seven thirty and consisted of porridge which was rather gooey (but it was food) followed by rashers and sausages and a cup of char. Next it was on parade and all this was very confusing. We were still in civvies by this time we were expected to know our army number by heart and if you didn't know you had to do an extra duty usually spud bashing. We then all were marched off to the store room for our kit and if you did not know your measurements it was to bad it was just thrown over the counter at you and that was that. We then had half an hour to parade in our uniforms and what a odd lot we must have looked. I found the uniform very scratchy especially the neck band and all the time we had to run about no walking was allowed even in the evening. We were not allowed out of Cowley Barracks for two weeks. I cannot tell you how despondent I was with all this, it was as bad as being in prison ( the only thing I had done was to be born too soon) However this was survived and a month later we were transferred to the Slade Camp which was a wooden hut camp some 300yds up the road. Here we had to do intensive training and nearly every day we had to go up to Shotover and over the top to Wheatley and then back through Watlington. All the time we had to march for about 400yds. then run 400yds.( running is called doubling up) carrying battle order which was a pack on your back containing all the things you would need such as mug ,Dixie, (for your food) knife, fork and spoon spare pair of socks a gas cape (which also served as a Mac) and various other bits and pieces in total it weighed 28lb.We also carried pouches on the front which should have hand grenades or ammunition in and we had to carry a rifle but they were in short supply so we had to hand them in at the end of the march. We were taught various things like map reading, weapon training, field craft, signalling etc.
It was here that I did a course on Bren Gun carrier driving this is a tracked vehicle which took some getting used to however without any major disaster. I managed to pass the test and it appears that this is good to this day that it still stands according to my currant driving licence. With this under my belt I thought I would get transferred to the Transport section but this was not to be as they were going to the far East. After they were gone we that were left had to go on Parade the next morning and I noticed that all of us were ether blond or auburn. It was only after the war that I discovered the reason - it was that we could easily get sunburnt.
On company orders it gave a list of trades we would like to follow and on this list was catering. It went through my mind that this would help me after the war in the grocery trade so I applied and was drafted into the catering Corp. I thought that it I would have to go away for the course in catering but I did not and went into the cookhouse at the Slade Camp. Here although I was put on I was treated like a human being for the first time since I was called up, and not treated like a lump of dirt! I was reasonably happy, I could go dancing and go to Kencott (I now had got my cycle with me ) so it gave me freedom and I could meet my mate Charlie Godfrey, who had also done his initial training and was stationed at Brize Norton. At home we had the Morris Eight still running and with the help of petrol Charlie used to conjure up the locality was our oyster. One foggy night after Charlie had dropped me off after a dance (remembering that head lights had masks on) he was going along the northern bypass and hit the Banbury road roundabout the car finished on the top of it. The next edition of the Oxford Mail had a picture of it perched on top. This was the end of our dashing about in the car as after it was repaired Mum only let us have it occasionally.
Having completed the catering course I was back with the Infantry training squad ,but it was not for long. In those days not many people could drive and I was posted to a unit at Newbury and here I had to drive Officers all over the south of England. The car I was given was a large Vauxhall. This as you might guess was a very good number, especially the food as it was the same as the Officers were given and I got to know a lot about London, Southampton, Portsmouth ,Bristol etc. This lasted about six months but all good things come to an end.
It was at this time Dunkirk was about to happen. Headington Hall was requisitioned and I had to report there to cook for those returning from France, and poor fellows they were in a mess. It is hard to describe them, one or two still had there rifles, a lot had hardly any clothes on, they were all very dirty and hungry .
In the kitchen there was a big black range and huge ovens. We had to get up at 4 o’clock to get some heat into it, we also had boilers outside under a lean to and these were devils to get going but after a while we did get the hang of it all. Mind you the fellows that had escaped Dunkirk were just pleased to be there no matter how bad the food was. In the end we settled down to produce fair food
The head cook was a regular soldier who had injured his leg (he was always saying but for my leg I would be with those poor sods) and of course he knew all the tricks. Our allocated beds were right up in the attic but under the main stairs was a large cupboard and it was in here we made our beds. It was just the place apart from not having to make you bed up every day, it was right by the kitchen but life not only runs how you plan it. We had a kit inspection and although I had checked it the night before when I went up just before the kit inspection I found some lousy so and so had not only pinched my spare pair of boot laces off the bed but had taken the boot laces out of my spare pair of boots as well. Of course it was too late to do anything about it, so when the Officer came on his inspection I was put on a charge, and had to go up before the Commanding Officer and duly was awarded 7 days confined to barracks or jankers as it is commonly known, Usually when you were on jankers you had to report to the Guard Room and then given some work to do, i.e. sweeping up the road, cleaning the guard room or peeling potatoes. Of course being I was a cook I was sent to the cookhouse to work because the Guard Commander knew I could come up with something extra for him. I must have been having an unlucky streak because it was at this time I had my cycle stolen. It broke my heart as it was a special bike, a Sunbeam racing one that only weighed fourteen pounds. Today the price of it would be in the hundreds of pounds, and to make matters worse I knew that I was being posted and could not try to find who had stolen it.
It came up on orders that I was to report to the guard room with all my kit. I was not told where I was going but I was picked up by a truck and found that there was already two other cooks I knew from Slade Camp and off we went on our mystery tour, We found out after a while when we stopped that we were going to Salisbury, but not in the town. It was a field a few miles outside and here we were greeted by a pile of canvas which turned out to be a tent or marquee and also there was a truck and it was full of cooking utensils. It turned out that we had to first put up the marquee (being as we had no knowledge of how to do it this was a tussle). We then had orders to produce a meal for 200 Canadian troops and you can imagine how we felt. Here I was , although we all of the same rank I was the senior in length of service .
All the equipment was in the truck but getting it out and set up was an other matter. We had boilers which were always a job to get going, water had to be carried and scrounged from nearby houses and we had to make up fires in shallow trenches with pans on top to do the frying on. Just imagine a side of bacon in front of you which had to be turned into rashers which was no mean task especially with a blunt knife. However we managed to turn out a meal the Canadians were quite pleased with more especially because they had not eaten since they had landed in England. Once the first meal was over we had their own cooks to help and after a few days they were found other billets and we went back to Oxford .
Orders came through that I had to report to Cowley Barracks and from here I was sent to a private house called Rings in the Beaulie area. This was a lovely house built just before the war and it had a tennis court and swimming pool. This was a highly secret house and the purpose of it was to train the free forces. The first ones we had were French and they all had to be treated as officers and had a higher scale of rations and they were very fussy over there food. Of course we were cooking English style and knew nothing of French cooking.
This was quite a good posting as there was two cooks and two others to help us so it was a turnabout duty, breakfast and lunch one week and evening dinner the other. The difference in our way of life - one day the French brought in a swan to cook!. We were not allowed off the area but we had a room set up for a rest room and we had a radio and other comforts and of course the food was good and plenty of it.
We also had to do other duties. That was to be Germans and find out where the French freedom fighters had pretended to land and hid their parachutes and had trace where they were hiding . It was a fairly good summer and so we could get some swimming and tennis in.
After the French had left, the next lot were Norwegians. They were a very nice bunch of lads, far different from the French. They would come into the kitchen and chat away of course they were looking for a tit bit or two and perhaps practice their English, nearly all of them were tall strapping young blonds. Well all good things come to an end .
Somebody found I was A1 and therefore I should be with a fighting force and not cooking in the South of England. I was drafted to the 2nd. Bucks Battalion in Northern Ireland B.Company. But we were not soldiering instead we were building an aerodrome at Limavady. One of our tasks was to dig trenches for drains to the where Nissan hut were to be built. This trench digging was ok because you had an allotted length to dig and that was it for the day but my chum was not so good at it and as soon as I had finished my stretch I used to help him so that we could go off and get ready to go out. There used to be a liberty truck going into Londonderry every night where there was a NAAFI and entertainment most nights. It was in Londonderry that I got into a fight with an Irish fellow and he produced a knife but I got it off him and he scarpered (I don't know whether it was good luck or the unarmed training we had gave me the edge. I still have the knife which I carried until I was demobbed.
The next move we made was to Ballymena. This was a Nissan hutted camp and here I applied to join the Regimental Police and my application was accepted. This meant that life was a lot different as there was a sergeant and 4 police and apart from patrolling the camp and making sure that security was being kept, then as now the Irish although you did not feel the anti English it was there, all guns had to be secure and rifles had to be padlocked up when not in use. Most of our work (?) was at night as there was always a fight somewhere and we were making trips to Belfast, Londonderry or even to Liverpool. I know that it might sound rather far fetched but I could not understand why soldiers got into a temper and got fighting, (it was many years later I had the feeling). At this stage of life I was into boxing and with two of the other police we could get some serious training in but with rumours going around I applied to join the P.M.Ps. A month later I was transferred and was in another uniform in Carrickfergus Glasshouse.
This was a different world altogether and it appears the object was to make it as uncomfortable as possible for the inmates. An instance of the treatment was they only had half an hour from reveille to wash and shave and have their kit ready for inspection i.e. all the blankets folded up in a neat pile and all the other personal equipment such as eating tools, spare socks boots etc in a special way which was standard throughout the army. On inspection it was standard to knock over one or two of the kits and order the soldier to have it ready for inspection in 20 minutes. Of course this was especially hard on him because it would mean that he would miss his breakfast if the officer did not come back on time so in all if there was an inmate that you did not like he would miss several breakfasts .This kind of thing went on all the time during the day when they training .
This was not my way of life and so I put in for a transfer back to my old unit so there I was back with the Ox & Bucks but it was another Company i.e. B as before I was in D Coy. Here I must jump forward in time to explain this was a lucky move because D Coy. was to be in the front of the ‘D’ day invasion as they were to go over in Horsea Gliders and capture an important bridge in Normandy and they had rough time.
We were billeted in a camp just outside Londonderry and here we were put though intensive training. We spent days on the Mountain of Mourn getting soaked through as we were dug in trenches and food came up in trucks and we just ate it where we stood. We made mock attacks on the other Company’s of the Battalion, real bullets were fired at us plus explosions to make mock shellfire. I can't remember how we came across a couple of houses, but it always has been a memory of me in one of the houses in which an elderly couple lived. It was here that I first tasted soda bread the lady was cooking it on hot stones that had been heated in a peat fire. I have always carried the flavour in my mind and have not found it since, maybe it was because I was a so hungry .
Back at the billet it came up on orders for volunteers for the parachutes and s you can already have gathered that I was willing to have ago at most things but I did not make out this time. I was turned down because I had flat feet.
When I joined up an old soldier gave me a tip that when they asked your religion to say you are Presbyterian and it served me well in Northern Ireland. Instead of going on church parade you had to make your own way to Chapel and so the locals were good to you and I was welcomed in a lot of homes and had many a good meal.

I have not so far said anything about girls but all the time I had had my flirtations but at Londonderry I met one girl and we went about together for quite a while but her family found out that I was not a Catholic and they forbid her to see me and her brothers told her they would sort me out if we did not finish .
The battalion then moved to Winchelsea close to Hastings. Here we were on an alert most of the time and although at times allowed into Hastings it was quite a boring place. I volunteered to go on a Snipers course and went to the Camber Sands an even more boring place all it was just sea and sand, nothing to do at night but go down the N.A.A.F.I. and play Housey -Housey which was the early form of Bingo. We could not go off camp at all and relief came in the shape of above all things, Doodle Bugs, and we had to go by truck to a hill with Bren Guns and attempt to shoot them down. Some did come down but whether it was us or the Spitfires I will never know but I tend to think now the it was a bit of propaganda or just to lift our spirits up. The only thing I can remember worth remembering was on the snipers course apart from spending a lot of time on the firing range was being issued with 5 rounds and go across the fields and shoot a crow and if you got one the prize was a day off, I made it twice .
The battalion was then moved to Fleet in Hampshire and here we had to go into Southampton and do guard duty. This was not too bad but there was always a danger with air raids. We were allowed to go into Southampton and most of the time I went dancing and there was also a very good restaurant run by the local Church. There was all this in spite of the fact the town had been badly damaged from the bombers. It was here that I was drinking quite a few pints of beer and found out there was no future in it .
On the weekend the whole Battalion were given a days pass as it was rumoured that something was on. My mate ‘Hoppy’ Hopkins was anxious to get married but the trouble was he did not have the funds to do so, so he came to me with his problems and I lent him £18 which in those days was quite a large sum ( as far as I can find out the pay was 10 shillings i.e. 50p a week) so off he went happily to get married . (DID HE EVER PAY YOU BACK)
On returning we were all paraded and found that it was to be kited out with all new things and had to hand our caps in and were issued with Tam-o-Shanter’s and cap badges of the Royal Scots Fusiliers. Also we had shoulder badges with a Polar Bear issued to us to sew on our tunic and we had new gas capes, ground sheets, combined small pick and shovel and various other things that before we had issued but at the end of the exercise we had to hand in . We also found that most of the Officers had changed including the Commanding Officer who had been a very hard man during our training which was good for us in what was to come. With all this we found that we were now the 11th.Royal Scots Fusiliers and not the 2nd. Bucks. With this it was obvious that something big was about to start. There was a lot of toing and froing, kit inspections etc. Then it came up on orders to pack our fighting order packs and the rest pack in our kit bags. At this time there was a lot of air activity going over from our side, at the same time we heard that the second front had started .
That night we were paraded and trucked down to just outside Southampton and boarded a D.U.K.W. (we had a lot of manoeuvres on these ) and although we knew where to go and what to do but now because we knew this was for real it seemed all different. I soon found that there were hundreds of other boats on the water and we were soon off to what I know ****** The sea was fairly choppy and I was always very sick when we crossed over from Ireland but I did not suffer this time but a lot of my mates did. The further we went it seemed that I could not believe that they had all been awaiting somewhere to carry all the soldiers , guns , equipment and ammunition over to the beach head. But one kept thinking what was in store for us shortly. Better man then me have described the scene, but to me there was all kind of craft coming and going, it was more like a Carfax on a busy day .
The shore line could now be seen and as we got closer the noise of gun fire could be heard and in no time at all the front landing side was let down although we were at least 100yds from the waters edge and out we had to go into the water almost up to our waists. Why we did not go further I can only guess that it was due to mines. Although there was no small arms fire, shells were falling along to our left. We could not see very far for smoke and although it was a bit of a shambles getting off the boat we soon sorted our section out and with a lot of shouting we had to move off the beach quickly before the shelling moved along to the part of the beach we were on. It was a shambles on the beach with first aiders tending the wounded and it was here I saw my first dead soldier. I think the shelling had happened not long before. Up the beach yellow tapes were marking the part of the beach that were safe from mines . On the beach there was tank, bren gun carriers and all kinds of equipment lying around and so we moved off the beach, past a house or what was left of it. This house will always be imprinted on my mind in spite of what I had seen on the beach
We then moved on to a orchard and were told to dig in and this was to the first of many I was to dig in in the future. Having dug the trench we changed our socks and tried to dry ourselves out. Food was the next thing and we had been issued with cans and they were new to us. A tab had to be pulled on the top and then left for five minutes and with your army knife open up the can and there was hot stew and with a packet of biscuits which were a cross between cream crackers and dog biscuits. This it appears was to be the staple diet for a long time to come. We had to make our own tea and this was done by lighting a block of solid fuel into a small round stove and bringing the water up to boil and pouring in a powder which was tea, dried milk and sugar. It was not like Sergeant Major tea we had been used to in the cookhouse back home .
It was now getting dark and we had to stand to (this means you had to take up a defensive position this was always taken up at dawn and dusk in case of an attack ). Very little rest was had that night , and about 4 o’clock we had to be on the move and it turned out to be the first time we were to meet the Germans. They were holding up an advance in a village and it appeared that snipers were in several houses and in the Church spire. We had to advance behind a tank and then dive into a house so that we could pick out the snipers. It was a matter of moving from one shelter to another and my pal Hoppy was in the lead and as he rounded the corner he caught a bullet in the chest. It appeared that the sniper was holed up in house round the corner so I threw a hand grenade round and as soon as it went off I followed it firing the bren gun but I had got my revenge for Hoppy. With the tank firing at the snipers too we then went through the village but had no more resistance but we took several prisoners who were taken back and we then carried on to march (walk?) towards Bayeux. The road was very dusty and the sporting tanks made life very unpleasant with all the dust they were kicking up. They were also drawing shellfire and we had to press on in spite of it all and unfortunately we lost several of the platoon with shell and mortar fire and there was it seemed a sniper at nearly every vantage point and it was our job to sort them out .
The sight I that I will always remember was the Horsia Gliders lying about in the fields they were every where. Unfortunately there was a few of our boys lying about it appears that the ambulance already there to tend to them .
It appears that Bayeux had fallen and we walked on through it was rather disappointing not to see the town but we carried on and took up defensive position on the outskirts when of course out came the shovels. We were supposed to be resting but in reality it gave us time to clean up a bit, i.e. wash and shave in about a pint of water change your socks ( it was very important to look after your feet after all we had a lot of walking to do ). It was here we had our first chance to get a message home but what could you write except that one was o.k. and the address to write back to you and the letter had to be handed to the platoon commander for censoring . Food was always in your mind. We had the self heating stew and dried potato powder which used a lot of your precious water, and also tinned pudding. We also had an issued 7 cigarettes a day .Water was at a premium. We had a bowser brought up but if you did not cheat a little all you were allowed was to fill your water bottle, which is about a couple of pints, so with having to make tea, a type of porridge or gruel and also something that was a cross between custard and blancmange and shaving. All this was done in a soldiers dixie. A dixie was a aluminium tin about six by five inches and two deep) and a smaller one that fitted inside.
One of the problems we had was Normandy Mosquitoes but we did not have a cream deterrent so we had bites all over the place. A normal place to sleep was sitting in your slit trench and if any of the battle dress was close to the skin they would ping straight through it. The only thing that they could not penetrate was the gas cape so you put this over the legs to protect them. To cover yourself right over made it too hot . I wondered why there was so many ‘mossies’ surely it was never like this all the time. I then realised there was no birds about and it was then that I realised all the good the birds did. Another memory that has stuck in mind was the cows that had been killed, laid on there sides all blown up with their legs sticking straight out .
We had by now made contact with the Germans again and the 25lb guns behind us were busy shelling just in front of us. The gunfire was being directed by a Lysander aeroplane whose pilot was in great danger of being shot down as we could hear small arms fire directed at him. Soon it was our turn to move forward. There was a row of trees in front of us so we could not see our objective but it seemed that the Germans knew we were moving forward and it was soon apparent how they knew because a Tiger tank started opening fire on us. We soon went to ground and the anti tank guns with us soon replied but they did not get him. As we moved through to the edge of the wood we could see a village in front of us. We had an artillery Officer with us and he was there directing the 25lbers who were putting down a barrage on the village. Just as we had orders to advance the Germans started up stonking us with mortar fire but we had to carry on our advance. We finally made it to the houses but with all the shelling they were virtually piles of bricks. We then had to go through to what was the street and then take up a defensive position. I found that I had lost three of my section. Later I found one was killed, one had a bad shrapnel wound and the other had a slight wound and had stopped to dress it with his field bandage but he still insisted staying with us. No sooner had we gathered our selves together than the Germans counter attacked supported with Tiger tank but we managed to hold our position and also the tank got knocked out. With this gone the Germans retreated but life was not smooth because they had put some snipers in the church tower and the houses further down the street so it was up to us to winkle them out. The company commander sent the reserve platoon to do this and having done it we were able to move to a position on the far end of the village. Then putting lookouts and taking up defensive position it was food time - remember we only had the packs we carried ourselves. When we had sorted ourselves out the officer who commanded our platoon reported that we had lost 4 killed and 6 wounded through the whole action .We were to stay in this village over night and we had a look round the houses to make sure there was no injured Germans. There was several dead but we found two injured that our first aiders dealt with .
Just as we had settled down we had orders to move on . It was about this time I had promotion to Corporal . I had one stripe up to now and this meant that I was in charge a section which was nine men seven with rifles and one bren gunner and my self with a stengun .
It was a matter of moving in the dark which to me that was not too hard because living in the country I could see fairly well. Also search lights were being played over from behind us making artificial moonlight. We had then moved to a rear position , and after stand too a Jeep came up with the first real breakfast i.e. porridge, fried bacon tea and hard tack (biscuits). Later my section had to go forward and take a position in a house by the side of a canal. This house had not been damaged in any way .Our purpose of being there was to warn H.Q. if the Jerries were about. We were in the upstairs bedroom when Jock my brengunner said I could do with night in there. We had not been there long when we spotted movement in front of us. There was three tanks moving across the field in the far distance but it was no cause to worry they were our tanks. Later we found they were Polish and that they were mad to get at the Jerries. It appears that the were wipig out a pocket of Jerries.
Later in the day we were relived by another section and when we joined the Company there was the boys having showers. This was done by a raised pipe pumping water into larger biscuit tins in the bottom of which had holes made in and hence a shower and all this was out in the open, but it was heaven to get under the shower and get rid of all the dirt we had collected in the time since we had landed. We had stripped down to the waist but even then we had little water to get rid of all the dust and dirt we had collected. It is a job to describe how itchy it felt to not have a proper bath but when we had finish the shower and dried off a lorry was issuing socks underclothes shirts and exchanging any other kit that had got damaged .
But there was no rest for as soon as we had a meal, this time provided by the cooks. Although I cannot remember what it was I can recall queuing up and having a good meal and sitting in a field with the sun shining and not having to sit in a slit trench. We were formed up and off we went as it appears that another outfit had a bad time and had a lot of casualties and we were to relieve them .
It appears that the Jerries had tried to retake a farmyard they had lost the day before. This was an important position because it was dominating the ground behind along which our transport were using. In the foreground the Jerries were entrenched in a wood and a lot of care had to be taken mostly crawling on our stomachs because the snipers were busy again. This was rather worrying because digging a slit trench on your stomach is not an easy task and it meant hooking the dirt loose with your bayonet and pushing the dirt away with the small shovel we were issued with. This shovel was about twice as big as a garden trowel and had a pick on the other end. In this situation the arm could not be raised or a bullet would whistle over and every now and again the mortars would stonk us and this made our digging more urgent. No sooner had we got settled in than our gunners started up and they were shelling the wood in front of us where the Jerries had dug themselves in. As night fell we had to stand to and under the cover of darkness we had our meal which was the usual do it yourself from a can .
It had not been too long before I was called to Company H.Q. With all kind of thoughts going through my head what had I done wrong , one is not called to H.Q. unless it is a serious matter. It was a serious matter but not in the way I thought. The Company Commander was there with other officers and I had been selected to do a recce for the company. On a table was the local map and it was explained to me where they thought the Jerries were dug in the wood and they wanted to find out exactly where they were. I then had to study the map for the hedge rows and the folds in the ground etc. and I was told to get two other mates to go with me. On the way back my brain was all buzzing and at the section I asked for two volunteers after I explained the job in hand. I was quite pleased that they all volunteered but I asked Jock and Andy, two Scotch boys, to come as this was not a job for rifles or bren guns but Sten guns (they were a short gun that could fire fairly rapidly 20 rounds but they were only if we got into trouble. So off we crept and after crossing several fields and getting close to the wood we could hear the Jerries talking. We moved along the front of the wood but we found no more and moved further into the wood but found nobody and then returned back to our lines, much to our relief all in one piece.
On reporting back to H.Q. the company commander ordered a shelling of the wood in preparation to clearing the wood of Jerries. After it had been light for a while a squadron Sherman tanks (i.e. three) came though and we followed up in a company attack. It appears what we had found out the night before was correct. There was a small unit in a forward position more for a look out and we went into the wood and took up a forward position on the other side. This was not taken without a loss of our boys because once we had come out of our slit trenches we were vulnerable to shelling and mortar bombs to say nothing about small arms fire. I cannot remember how many we lost as a Company but I do know I lost two of my section .
We held this position for two days after fighting off a counter attack and then we were relieved by another unit and went back to rest and reequip and two days later we were on the move again .Once more we had to march (walk!) and after a few miles we crossed over the canal where some of the boys of another unit were swimming about in the water. ( It was not until history of the war was out that I found this was the famous Pegasus Bridge that the Oxford & Bucks had taken at the start of the invasion). After a few more miles we went into another rest area where in the distance we could hear continuous shelling and then there was hundreds of bombers going over and we could hear the bombs going down. We all felt something big was going on as all the time bombers were going over but this was close and we were soon to find out what it was all about.


time since landing in Normandy we were to get a ride in trucks ,we embarked and away we went after about an hour we disembarked and found it was only `B' Company and the Platoon Commanders we called to `O' group for orders it appears that LeHarve being an important Port having been shelled by the Navy for two days refused to surrender ,the Jerries had a ring of pill boxes land wise and were well dig in .We were given a section of two pill boxes to attack and render useless , they were well equipped with fixed line Spandu machine guns and 88ml antitank guns , we were to be supported by tanks which as they went forward so did we for protection , the ground was all shell holes so it meant that we could not follow as close as we should it meant that we had got rather behind but once again I was lucky because all of a sudden there was a large explosion and the tank in front of us had literally gone up in smoke ,when the smoke had cleared all there was of the tank was part of one track standing up about three or four feet all the rest had seemingly disappeared , this one of the outstanding things of the whole campaign I remember so vividly , here we were stuck in a shell hole and were fairly safe because all their guns etc. could only shoot level they had not got any mortars that could get us . The tank that we were following was a block buster this had instead of a 25lb. artillery gun a barrel type which threw a big bomb type of shell which would smash the pillbox ,unfortunately in order to do this it had to get close to the pillbox , one can only guess the 88ml.gun had made a direct hit on the bomb in the tank .
This left us with a problem because the Jerries kept up their firing to keep us down in the shell hole but luck was with us although I had lost our Platoon Officer who was with us we still had the radio with us , so after a little conference we decided to call for our mortars to lay down smoke ,because to withdrawal was just as dangerous as to go forward so with the smoke laid down we dodged from shellhole to shellhole this was still a dangerous move because the Jerries kept up their fire although we lost two thirds of the boys we finally got there and were able to throw in handgranades and soon the Jerries came out with their hands up to be taken prisoner .
We soon found why this was such a hard nut to crack and all the bombing and the continual shelling by our gunners and as it turned out by the Navy . The position we had just taken was overlooking the port of Le Harve and was a fort with artillery able to shell any part of the town and the sea around the port , we had lost half of our boys including our platoon Officer and sergeant , the sergeants name was George Howells all the time he was afraid of getting wounded in his private parts and used to put his tin hat down his trousers , and guess what when we found out later how he was injured his tin hat did not save his precious vital parts .
My memory rather fails me as to what happened in what order but in general it was riding in trucks and then digging in then walking . The worst part of going through Belgium was that the water table was so high that although it was easy to dig a slit trench it meant that you had to lie in water if you wanted to survive when shells were dropping which was most of the time . But when we were going through villages we were cheered be the locals ,I can well remember that we had done a night march and had stopped in a village in the morning and we were having our breakfast which was porridge I had a large portion and did not completely finish it but tapped the dish out on the wall and immediately the young girl who was stood by grabbed the porridge on the wall to my surprise and ate it , she then went on to tell us how starved they were, it appears that the Germans would steal any food stuff they had including the vegetables in the garden of course we could not give them very much because we were in fighting order that means we only had a small pack ,never the less I had a couple of hard tack biscuits and some tins of sardines which we were issued with each day but some of the boys did not like them and so gave them to me, and so I was able to give them away .
It was quite a thing to stay any where for very long it was by now no longer necessary to ask for volunteers to go on reccies at night because most of the time we drew blanks the Jerries had moved on . We used to have a rum ration most nights and I used to save it up and put it in a bottle , one night when we were on a night march we were on the hourly ten minute rest and I was lead down with my head resting on my small pack ,at the time tanks were moving past us ,this was done at night by following on a small light at the rear and under the tank in front ,of course this was a good method if the road was wide but this was a bit of a track and with infantry about it was a tight squeeze ,needlessly one of tanks decided to come up the bank were we were resting and we had to scatter fast leaving our packs where we had laid ,needless to say after the tanks had passed we went to retrieve our packs or what was left of them it was goodbye to all the rum I saved up, you can guess that the air was blue for quite a while after that.
All This time food was pretty poor some times we had food brought up by truck , breakfast consisted usually porridge and sausages with tea but because it was brought up under darkness and in what was supposed to keep it warm, but due to having to " Stand to" until it was light it was usually cold. Other wise it was making it your self ,for tea you had a white tablet which you lit under the mess tin when the water boiled you poured in compo which was a mixture of dried milk and sugar (if you did not like sugar it was too bad) .We also had tins of stewed meat ,soup, and masodine (meat and vegetables mixed)the was heated the same way, also we had packets of dried biscuits (dog) tins of sardines seven cigarettes and a small pack of boiled sweets with a bar of hard chocolate ?
By this time we were getting quite skilled at making slit trenches and with the water table being lower we could go deeper some four feet and we were putting over the top ether an old door or a piece of tin to keep out some of the weather but we had to keep the end open so that we could fire our guns from there .It was about this time I was ordered to go forward from our lines on observation this meant that I had to go on a forward slope and dig a trench and camouflage both the trench and the spoil this had to be done in the dark it was rather a task and all this with a risk you could be heard ,all this was done so that if Jerry did anything I could warn the officer with the radio and he could bring the 25lbers guns to shell the Jerries. Although I was aware that once again I was in a dangerous position of rifle or machine gun if you were spotted ,but you were fairly safe from mortars and certainly from artillery shells ,simply because I was too close to Jerries lines , one thing was a problem was doing what comes naturally for this I always took a tin with me .I used to smoke quite a few cigarettes (we used to have a free issue ) and in the day time if the wind was in the right quarter a whiff of tobacco smoke would tell Jerry that one of the Enemy was in the close quarters , we could tell the difference of the smell .
One of the things that I can now fully appreciate now that when I am lying in bed now and the wind is blowing and its teeming down with rain like it was last night I think of sitting in a slit trench with a gas cape (that was a waterproof that was designed to go over you and all your equipment ) over your head .When we were in the low countries and we could not dig very deep before the water appeared in order to get any protection you had lie in it , so when we get rough weather I snuggle down and think of past times.
I am afraid that I have tried to forget all the horrible things that happened so although I can remember some of the things that happened it is rather disjointed so here goes .
What happened next I had to wait after the war to find out the reason . We had orders to attack the Jerries and drive them across the Rhine , this was a rather difficult task but after a good stonking by the gunners we made moved forward and although there was a lot of small arms fire we made some progress until we came into open ground here we had to dive into a ditch and it was really impossible to move forward and we had to spend some hours stuck there ,it has always stuck in my mind this exposed because we lay in the ditch and the Jerries where at the top of a slope right against the sky line so every time they popped their heads up we could have a pop at them,I could not understand why they did not use their mortars because we were sitting ducks for them.It was while before I realised that we were no longer in company with the Jerries, so with Andy my Bren Gunner I made a tentive move out of the ditch and across the open field insructing the rest of the section to give me covering fire should they start firing on us , Haling reached the top we discovered the Jerries had withdrawn.
When the rest of the section had joined I sent a signal to the platoon Officer that we had moved to the out skirts of the village ,when the platoon had joined us ,we had to advance into the village but we found nobody but as we advanced one of the boys caught a packet in the leg ,we had been caught by a sniper in the church tower we immediately dived for shelter . Because we had been joined with the others the Platoon commander had the radio with us he asked for assistance from H.Q. , it was not long before we got it ,in fact we had hardly got round to putting a tourniquet on Fred`s leg when there was a loud explosion we felt the ground heave and the was a woosh and found the our help was in the shape of a Spitfire which had completely demolished the Church tower . After this we had no further contact with the enemy ,it was apparent that the sniper was there to hold us up while they withdraw .as we continued to advance it turned out they had gone completely away.
That night we had orders to move out and go back to a rest area , here we were able to clean our kit, check our weapons and rearm ,we were able to have a good wash etc. ,as for shirt pants and other clothing we handed in our dirty cloths and were issued with fresh ones some times they were new but mostly they were freshly laundered.
We had two days of sleeping and playing football etc.the area was at a farm were the cookhouse was in a barn our quarters just consisted of small tents put up in a wood, but it was a relief not to have to spend half an ear listening for shells screaming over,it gave us time to recoup in more ways than just getting food at regular times ,and also to write letters
But it was too good to last after three days we were on the move this time although we did not know it we were about to endeavour to enter Germany by crossing the Rhine. I suppose this was why we where properly kitted out with full quota of ammunition etc.
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Unfortunately this was where Dad finished writing about his life so I now am going to try and fill in the facts from there on as I know them.
In June 1945 Dad was awarded the Military Medal the citation is on the last pages .
In 1947 Dad married Mavis Evans and they moved to live in Brize Norton. I can remember Mum talking about the fleas which invaded the house they lived in. They stayed there about 6 months and then moved back to Ivy Nook Kencott. The house belonged to Dads sister Molly. Molly her husband George and son Brian lived with my Grandmother who had been left a house in Kencott for her lifetime. Mum and Dad rented the house from Molly eventually purchasing it. In 1949 I was born at Ivy Nook.
Dad continued to work for to Co-op in Witney becoming Under Manager in 1949 and Manager two years later. In the Oxford Mail on his retirement he stated that in 1953 the shop changed to self service “ We were one of the first in the area and people really against the idea at first . They said it would never catch on” In 1973 Dad supervised the move from the High Street to Market Square. In 1973 he was made Manager of the whole store. Dad retired from the Co-op in 1983 with a surprise party being held by his staff. I remember he used a motorbike to travel to and from work and would bring groceries home balanced in a box on the tank! His first car was a green A35 van which he had several accidents in and would never have a green vehicle after that. He then had minis and to be able to afford a Mini Cooper gave up smoking.
Dad played tennis for the Colstan Lawn Tennis Club in Broadwell. Most weekends were spent there with Dad playing and Mum preparing the tea. Dad was Chairman from 1954 to 1969 and was a trustee until his death. He was interested in all sport playing badminton until he was in his 70’s. Dad was a Swindon football supporter and I remember attending most home matches with him. He always watched the football on the television. He was very enthusiastic about the grandprix and watched each one on television.
Dad was very involved in the village, several people have commented that he was “Mr Kencott”! If anyone moved to the village Dad always called to see them to welcome them and introduce himself. He liked to see the village clean and tidy, which with other people in the village enabled Kencott to win the Tidy Village competition on a number of occasions. In the last years of his life he would go “litter picking” on his buggy.
For nearly 30 years Dad was a member of the Special Constabulary. I remember him going out at Christmas on “turkey patrol”. It was this that influenced me to join the police.
In 1988 he became a founder member of the Windrush Probus Club. This played a very important part in Mum and Dad's retirement. They had many enjoyable holidays and day trips with the club and made may friends. Dad very rarely missed a Probus meeting. Being the Welfare Officer he would spend the evening before the meeting ringing those who were not well to find out how they were so he could report to the meeting. While the men attended the meeting the ladies would often have coffee at one another’s homes. On Mums death and while Dad was ill there were many offers of help from the members.
Gardening was something both Mum and Dad enjoyed,
Mum the flower garden at Ivy Nook and for 44 years Dad had his allotment. He spent many hours at the allotment often forgetting the time and returning late for meals! Even while in hospital he wanted to know if anything was being done on his allotment, often telling me it was time to plant certain vegetables.
In 2004 an article and photo appeared in the Sunday Telegraph as Kencott allotments was one of the first to open for the National Garden Scheme. In the article Dad says that as a boy he used to “ nip in and nick the gooseberries” . I believe the same bushes are still there and going strong.
The garden at Ivy Nook was open for the National Garden schemes and in 2001 Mum and Dad received a certificate and trowel for having the gardens open for 21 years. The gardens have continued to open at Easter each year.
Involvement in the church was very important to Dad he was Treasurer and Church Warden of the church for a number of years . He was the bell ringer at St Georges church and as there are only 2 bells he would ring one with his hands and the other with his foot. He continued to do this until about a year before his death . For several years he participated in the Historic Churches Trust cycle ride, I often accompanied him riding to Carterton and Black Bourton in the morning and Langford and Filkins in the afternoon. For two years Dad rode his buggy and we went to Langford and Filkins.
Dad was a blood donor and received the gold badge.
In recent years he was involved in the Filkins Day Centre, driving “the old folks” who were often younger than him to the centre! He was the caller for the bingo sessions and a member of the committee until his death.