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Stan joined the Army in 1931 aged 15 years. (He had to lie about his age). He served with B Coy 2 Bn The Royal Warwickshire Regiment from 1931-1938 in places such as India and Egypt. He left the Army in 1938 and this is where the extract from my Grandfathers memoir begins.

'It was March 1938 and after leaving the service I was employed as a kitchen porter at Sonning Golf Club just outside my home town of Reading. The job required me to live in, the wage was rather low (1.10) a week and all found, that was not a bad wage for 1938 as the cost of living was also low. Also by being in the Reserve I was paid on the 1st of every third month some extra money. War clouds were beginning to gather over Europe, which worried me slightly as being in the Reserve I would be in the first batch to be called up. However, right up to the early summer of 1939 I was still enjoying life at the club. In late July I spent a day off beside the Thames as I often did and had spent so much time there as a boy. I will always remeber that day as it was to be the last time I would be able to spend such a lovely time by that river as war now seemed a certainty in Europe. In August I received my call up papers to report to Blenheim Barracks in Aldershot for service. A friend of mine who I worked with also received his papers to report to Aldershot also in two days time. We said our goodbyes and were quite sad as we did not know if we would see each other again (we never did). After arriving in Aldershot I reported to the Barracks where I, with other Reservists were kitted out. We did a bit of arms practise then after a few days was sent to join my old Bn at Southampton. Two days later we embarked on the S.S. Royal Daffodil for France. The trip across the channel was peaceful and we disembarked at Cherbourg. A train was waiting for us to take us to our destination which was a little town called Sameion on the French-Belgian Frontier. We stayed there for nine months until Hitler ordered the big push into Belgium in May 1940. It had been a long cold winter spent in dugouts along the Frontier. The BEF was pushed back to Dunkirk. Myself and a few lads I came over with made it back to England on an old cargo boat, docking in Margate, Kent. Of our Bn of nearly 900 men, only 126 came back the rest were killed or spent the rest of the war in POW Camps.

Authors note: Please understand that a lot of the detail has been edited out of the story to maintain brevity. My Grandfather stayed with the Warwicks after they were regrouped until 1943 when he transfered to the RASC. He went back to France and was involved in the fighting right the way through the war eventually returning home in 1947 and being demobbed. I find it hard to believe how he and men like him were able to keep going for as long as they did. As a mere boy of 15 he travelled the world for 7 years in some of the harshest environments in the world as part of the Warwickshire Regiment and after a year off was recalled for what would be another 8 years in the greatset war the world has ever seen. His modesty and nonchalance when discussing the war in later years never failed to impress me. He never mentioned friends he lost or pain he endured, only the good times. Stan died in 1993 and thankfully left pages upon pages of memories from his life and in particular the war. This is my tribute to him.

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