France

My Life My War - Chapter 13a

So the Warspite entered the harbour And bombarded the enemy tanks, We plastered the heights and North of...

Fire Orders Chapter 14c

As luck would have it the Worcesters' 6-pounders were loaded with the sabot shell, and as the leading...

The Two Times I Saw Paris

This was just before Christmas 1944 when he chauffeured his Commanding Officer, Major E.R. Hargreaves, from...

Not Going Anywhere Fast

1904 On the 23 April 1904 Francis Rodney Eglen was born to James William and Maud Mary Eglen in Hull...

Light Blue Ulstermen

An official of the Embassy visited Hugh at his Newtownabbey home with an itinerary of Nagasaki visits and...

Leaving Paris 1940

What follows is a near verbatim transcription of a letter written by my grandfather, Ronald "Jack"...

Normandy Veterans Remember World War Two

Jim has been Secretary of the West Cumbria Branch of the Normandy Veterans since 1989. Members, family,...

Calais: With the RAOC 1940

In a hail of bullets which missed me but peppered the back of the Bren truck, I flung the Boys in and...

Dedication of the Normandy Veterans Memorial Seat, Whitehaven

The story of Gunner Harold Drake, Royal Artillery, a Normandy Veteran. As well as Mr Drake, Mr Jolly and Mr...

Conscript Heroes: Rescue at Divion

During the whole of this first eight days as a prisoner of war things were not so bad as they became later...

Verrieres Ridge

The BATTLE OF VERRIERES RIDGE A name indelibly etched into the memories of the men of 2nd Canadian Infantry...

60 Years Ago on Friday June 2nd LCI(S) 536 202 Flotilla

Sunday 4th June Started the day as normal, tied up in midstream in the river Hamble just off the village of...

Aldershot to the Sultan of Johors palace via Normandy

We were in the trench for 3 or 4 days before we started our job of ferrying supplies up from an american...

Coventry to Caen (Part 2)

As I got on the ramp it broke loose from the landing craft and pitched me on to the beach,I didn't even...

Where are they now: HMS Fernie at Cherbourg 1940

In the middle of June we were ordered into Cherbourg to pick up stragglers, the main evacuation from...

Sid’s Story - Finale

Continuing from Sid's Story Part 4 he says "We moved from this place into an orchard because the...

"CornCob" MS Innerton & HMS Despatch, 'Floating Mulberry Harbour'

CORNCOB’ MS INNERTON & HMS DESPATCH IN ‘THE FLOATING’ MULBERRY HARBOUR by William...

Stratford D Company goes to War

We went to France on January 10th 1940, and came out, through Dunkirk, and the Warwicks. were the last...

The War for River People

They had worked for Hay's Wharf for years, my grandfather since 1912 - at the start of the war he was...

My Mother got Two Telegrams, One was Bad Enough.

Two brothers, Robert and Joseph Casson were killed within days of each other during the Battle of Normandy....

One Man's War

1940 During Dunkirk evacuation, Third R.T.R. sent on “Forlorn Hope” to Calais. Machine gun...

Dunkirk to Auschwitz and Home

We were here for about 14 months until late December 1944 when the Russians had started breaking through...

Seven Years of War: Part 3, a continuation of story A4220678: Arrival in France

The regiment travelled all round France, setting up the guns for short periods, firing at German aircraft,...

Return to Normandy (Part 1)

However, at the time I was making these enquiries, my wife spotted a notice in the Press, advertising a...

Remembering the German Victims of World War Two

These are the visit to the Caen Memorial Museum on Sunday 6th June 2004 by the German Chancellor Gerhard...

The Military Medal

Sandy and me crept forward to a small orchard for a look-see and to our dismay we counted ten German tanks...