A Swift Promotion

This story was submitted to the People’s War website by a volunteer from CSV/BBC London on behalf of Chris Thomas and has been added to the site with her permission. Ms Thomas fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

This is a story about my dad who was a Royal Marine Commando in the war. Bless him - he was the most unlikely of soldiers you could ever meet because he was just a clerk. He was allergic to his uniform and he was always the last one for a photograph. He would find himself involved when they were organising the Normandy Landings from England, I think it was in Plymouth, and there was a Daily Express reporter there saying "can you tell me what is going on out there?" My father said, "well lad, you could actually walk from here all the way to Normandy without getting your feet wet because there are so many boats out there". The reporter said “that’s fantastic, what is your rank?” My father said "Private". The reporter said "no, I can’t put you down as a Private, I will make you a Sergeant" and my father said “that is the fastest promotion I have ever had".

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.