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This is Frank's Royal Artillery cap badge which was in France with him in 1939/40. It can also be seen on the pictures of Frank in the Picasa web album a year before war broke out. The wheel on the gun turns smoothly still.
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Chris,
ReplyDeletePlease see my previous comments.
Roy
Roy, Thank you for your comments; the recollections from your father are vivid and full of character. It is funny to think that this time 75 years ago they would both have been thinking of home billeted "somewhere in France".
ReplyDeleteAfter the Battery returned from France in 1940 I understand that it was deployed on Hampstead Heath in North London (near where Frank lived) as my mum remembers walking across the heath and seeing him there. Frank left the Battery in early 1941 and joined the Signals and then the Intelligence Corps so unfortunately I have nothing on the Battery from that point on. It is interesting to know that they ended up in Burma; have you tried the National Archive at Kew?
Thank you for your interest in my blog,
Chris
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteRoy,
DeleteYes, I was aware of the link that the 53rd Battery had with the sinking of the SS Lancastria. It is mentioned in the war diary of the 12th AA Brigade which records that 26 other ranks were missing as as a result of the sinking. The war diary of the 53rd records that the 158th Battery was "shorn" from the regiment on 19 May 1940, after they had retreated to Nantes. From there the 158th ended up in St Nazaire and the 157th and 159th headed south to Marseille, and that is fate for you.
I have noted your email address and if there is anything else you have to share about your father and the 157th Battery I would be very interested to hear. I will email you early in the New Year.
Happy New Year to you,
Kind regards,
Chris
Chris,
ReplyDeleteI will look forward to hearing from you.
Cheers,
Roy