The Parish Magazine October 2024

20 The Parish Magazine - October 2024
feature — 3
PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD
During the Second World War a husband and wife kept in touch by writing letters
as often as possible. On each of the wife's letters was one of the wife's paintings
of a flower growing in their garden — such as that poppy on this page. Today the
poppy is a symbol of Remembrance for all who risked their lives to rid the world
of evil and it is worn by millions of people during the Remembrance period, from
the last Friday in October until 11 November. The following article is the first part
of the husband's account of his wartime experience. The concluding part will be
in our November issue — Editor.
The following is just a small fraction of life in Normandy and Northern France,
Belgium, Holland and Germany from 1944-1945.
Approximately, on 1 May 1944, I,
number 10579609 Cfm A C Scales AVM,
150 Infantry Brigade W/S Company,
11th Armoured Division, moved with
my company to prepare for the invasion
of Europe. At that time we had no idea
where the invasion would take place.
At Aldershot we worked 12 hours
a day for 6 days a week preparing
car vehicles for the landing by 'water
proofing' the electrical and mechanical
items of the vehicles.
'D' Day arrived on Tuesday 6 June
1944. The following Saturday, I, in a
party of 23 proceeded to Fort Gomer
near Gosport as the 'Advance Party' of
the company.
On the Saturday afternoon we
drove to the dock area of Gosport and
embarked on barges with about nine
vehicles on each barge, and sailed out
into the Solent. We formed up in five
lines with 10 barges in each line with a
destroyer as escort.
In the late evening we sailed out
past Southsea listening to the shouts of
men on the navy ships as we sailed past
them. They were ready to rescue us if we
were driven back into the sea.
HMS Rodney
We arrived off the coast of
Normandy as dawn broke and it was
quite exciting. We landed — I learnt
after the war — at 'Gold Beach' which
had only just been captured.
Prior to embarkation, each of us
were given £1 in French liberation
francs to spend — so they told us — if
we ever got to Paris.
On Sunday morning we drove off the
barges into the sea and made for the
shore hoping that the water proofing
was good. It was!
All around was great excitement.
Close at hand was HMS Rodney firing
all guns. All around were small motor
boats picking up those who nearly
drowned. Men were coming down the
sides of big ships into the sea up to their
necks in water.
As we landed on the beach we drove
through tapes about 6 yards apart and
on through the village of Longues north
of Bayeux. We stopped off the road and
took off our water proofing, and then
drove through Creully to a disused
stone quarry and were told to 'dig in'. I
dug in near the side wall, if a shell had
hit the top I would have been killed by
Wikipedia Public Domain
falling rocks. The following
day my party drove on to
Bretteville on
Caen-Bayeux
road and I found
myself in battle
with the Welsh
Guards firing
mortars a few feet
from me in the garden
of a house on the south
side of the road.
That evening I, and eight
others, went off and brought
in 4 four Canadians who had been
killed. We buried them in Brettville
cemetery, which is on the main road.
CONDITIONS OF LIFE
May I explain some of the conditions
of life:
— I was only paid once in 9 months
between the beaches and the Rhine,
although money was of use.
— We were not allowed to take off
our clothes or boots for the whole 2½
months.
— We usually had one hot meal a day
but did not know when we would get it.
— We had plenty of 4 inch square
biscuits.
— Each man had a free cigarette ration
of seven cigarette daily, although
with the casualties, it was about 10 or
12, or more. I smoked a pipe, and as
I was the only one who did, I got all
the pipe tobacco ration. I smoked one
ounce of tobacco each day throughout
Normandy.
— No bread was issued till late October 1944
— Mail from home would arrive on time.
— As time wore on we never knew the
time or date.
— I only saw about 25 French civilians
in 2½ months in Normandy.
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