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William (Bill) Powell, first volunteered for service during the Munich Crisis in August 1938. Europe by now was becoming very unsettling. With the uprisal of Mussolini in Italy, and Hitler becoming Chancellor and Fuhrer (Leader) of Germany, plus the Spanish Civil War already in it’s second year, the British people had cause to worry.

Bill enlisted for service into the Royal Army Service Corps. Territory Army and posted for duties in the rank of Driver on 22nd September 1938 at the age of only 19 years, and was stationed at Wandsworth. A year later, on 2nd September 1939, Bill's service embodied when war on Germany and Italy was declared the following day, on 3rd September 1939. At first little happened after war was declared, Bill being posted to 900 Company on 13th July 1940.

The war was giving young people no sense of time. Only weeks after meeting Gladys, Bill proposed, and she accepted. Married life soon became to an abrupt end. Just after a year of being together as man and wife, Bill was posted to 3 Technical Training Group on 4th September 1942; a month later on 26th October 1942 returning to 900 Company; then onto 15 Tank Transport
Company on 9th November 1942. On the 23rd November 1942 Bill was sent to fight in Africa leaving his bride behind. Once Gladys knew it was the final time before Bill left her for war, indefinitely, or permanently, she took three days off work at Watcliffe, and was immediately sacked.

A month before Bill had left, was the beginning of the end of the war in North Africa after the battle of El Alamein. When Bill had arrived, the Anglo-American
expedition had been launched. The strategical purpose was to bottle up
Rommel’s line of retreat and to regain control of the Mediterranean. With
Rommel’s success in withdrawing part of his forces from Libya to link up with the newly arrived reinforcements in Tunisia, the war in Africa was prolonged. Bill had sent Gladys three lemons from Africa in a wooden box. Gladys was able to raffle them and raised £3.10s. for the Merchant Navy. She held many raffles for them, as so many boats and men had been lost.

While in Africa the petrol tank of a truck blew up near Bill, badly burning him and blinding him for two weeks. To his relief, Bill was able to see again, but
the soldier next to him when this happened never regained his sight.

Fit again, on the 1st February 1943 Bill was posted to the 228 Tank Transport
Company. Eventually, in May 1943, with three months of hard war, Bill was informed that the war in Africa was finally over when 300,000 Germans and Italians, driven into the extreme north-west corner of Tunisia, had no alternative but to surrender with no possibility of a German “Dunkirk”. Bill was posted to
1 General Reinforcement Training Depot on 18th June 1943, then to General Head Quarter Company a month later on 24th July 1943. Bill passed his Trade Test and re-mustered as Vehicle Mechanic AII on the 6th May 1944, followed by his Trade Test and upgraded Vehicle Mechanic AI on 14th December 1944.

Now concentration in Europe was imminent, so Bill was sent to Italy. With the North African shores now cleared, Malta could be used as an offensive base before the invasion of Italy. Capturing Sicily first, Bill’s Regiment was then programmed to move across onto the mainland in September.

Conquering Rome, Bill moved further north where he participated in many battles. Eighteen months after arriving in Italy, Mussolini, disgraced by defeat, was overthrown in Milan. Bill’s regiment had been ordered to protect Mussolini and prevent a riot, but with very few allies against numerous hysterical Italians,
there was no possibility of preventing such a fate. The result was Mussolini, his
mistress (Miss Petacci), his friend (Gelormini) together with Bombacci, Pavolini and Starace, were shot then hung upside down in Piazza Loretto in full view of Bill and his fellow soldiers. The angry Italians, however, did feel a pang of
consciousness by tying Miss Petacci’s skirt, so that it did not fall over her face, disclosing her underwear. With a camera at hand, Bill was able to capture this moment in history on film.

To his joy and Gladys’ relief, the Germans surrendered on the 7th May 1945, followed by the Japanese surrender on the 14th August, as a result to two atom bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Soon after, on the 23rd August 1945, Bill was posted to 717 Company in the rank of Private, then to 128 Petrol Depot on 16th October 1945.

Although Winston Churchill had led the British to victory, and they were
grateful, they chose to elect a Labour Party into office to get the country back to
work. Because of this, Bill could not automatically return home - it had to be
gradual, giving homecoming men time to find employment.

The day finally arrived when Bill returned home in March 1946, and released on the Royal Army Reserve on 5th June 1946, having spent seven years (02.09.1939-04.06.1946) service with the Colours. His military conduct was recorded as ‘Exemplary’.

For many years Bill was eager to return to Italy to retrace the places that, forty years previous, he had fought on. So, in May 1984 Bill and Gladys left for a six-week tour in their caravan to Italy. This time, armed with only a camera, they visited many war graves, leaving behind their wreath of respect for those who died in World War II. It was a time for them to feel sad, and to see where so many men had fallen; and also a time to feel humble and grateful to be alive.

To Bill, it was a relief to finally get this pilgrimage out of his system.

(William Frederick Powell - 13.09.1919-31.01.2000)

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