Description
In November 1937 Jeff joined the Territorial Army Battalion of the 1/7th Middlesex.
He was mobilised on 1 September 1939, when Germany invaded Poland. Jeff was in the BEF and found his way back to Dunkirk.
He was then moved to the 51st Highland Division as a machine-gunner and went out to the Middle East where his first battle was El Alamein. In July 1943 we went on to the invasion of Sicily.
For the D-Day landings, the 51st Highland Division went in the afternoon of D-Day, landing on Sword Beach and took any hot strong points that had been left behind by the assaulting troops, as they had to get as far inland as possible. Jeff was to push his way fighting through France, Belgium, Holland then into Germany.
Jeff was awarded the Military Medal for his actions in Reichswald Forest and was presented the medal by General Montgomery.
After the war, Jeff went to work on the buses, met his future wife Ivy in the canteen and had two sons.
Print taken from the book ‘A TIME TO FIGHT Living and Remembering WWII’
