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My grandfather, “Gordon” Wreford, was a soldier in the Royal Engineers, having served in 42 Field Co in the late 1930s in Egypt and Palestine. From 1939 he was attached to the Queen Victoria’s Own Madras Sappers and Miners in Bangalore.

The photograph shows him as a L/Sgt, second from the left on the second row from the front. The picture is captioned on the back as “Annual Mess Photo 1940”, and is presumably that of the Sergeants Mess in Bangalore. At the time the picture was taken, he was serving with 61st Coy.

He later served in North Africa, arriving in early August 1941. He was captured on the 17th June 1942 around the area of the Halfaya Pass during the allied retreat back to Egypt.

He is known to have escaped during the Italian armistice but was recaptured by the Germans. It is believed that he escaped from a train while being taken to Germany, and returned to allied lines on the 26th November 1943.

My grandmother was repatriated from India in light of the threat from the Japanese. She had to take all her belongings and two small children on the train across India, and then by boat to South Africa. The task was made slightly easier by some of the luggage being stolen from the barracks before departure, but it was still an arduous trip.

They stayed in Cape Town for six months before returning to England. At some point on the journey, I think when leaving Cape Town, they missed their scheduled sailing only to later find out that the ship they had been due to travel on had been sunk during the voyage.

If anyone has further information on the Madras Sappers and Miners, or perhaps even served with my grandfather, I would be delighted to hear from them.

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