Description
Ted joined the army on 15 July 1939. He was the first militia soldier in Hemel Hempstead. Ted was meant to go in for six months but it turned out to be six-and-a-half years.
In 1940 Ted was sent to France with the Queen’s Royal Regiment. He got his orders to move south west and was on the march for several weeks. He landed in Cherbourg and then put on a cross-Channel steamer heading back to Southampton. It was only then he realised he was being shipped out of France because of Dunkirk.
Ted was ordered to the African Campaign, then the invasion of Italy, landing at Salerno. After some heavy fighting, Ted was taken as a pow by the Germans and remained a prisoner until the end of the war.
After the war Ted married Betty and worked as an engineer.
‘I saw a bit of action but not as much as some of my mates; some of them went through hell.’
Print taken from the book ‘A TIME TO FIGHT Living and Remembering WWII’
