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Individual daily entries can be seen as drop down items from each yearly page.
This blog is based on my late father’s WWII diaries which he kept throughout the war. Sadly the earlier diaries are missing and hence this journal starts in 1942, days before his marriage to my mother and his leaving UK shores to participate in the momentous events that were to await him.
On occasions I have added notes and comments which are clearly identified in italics.
My dad served in the UK’s Eighth Army from the start of the war in 1939 through to the war’s conclusion in 1945. Born in Morley, Yorkshire, he was a true and constant Yorkshireman through to the end. As a young man he was a keen and talented footballer, playing for local amateur teams, and enjoyed cycling, particularly around the Wolds towns and villages of the East and North Ridings, which at weekends would have been a breath of fresh air from the industrialised wool towns of the West Riding on his doorstep.
Like many of his generation, the war was little mentioned in my childhood, apart from the odd reminiscence. These often came as a reaction to some gung ho dialogue in a war film, usually of American origin, which we would have been watching.
So I believe these diaries are particularly important, not because of who my dad was, or what he did, but because future generations should be aware of what was arguably the most crucial and momentous period in our modern history.
On a personal note in April 2019 I was on holiday in Sicily. My Father’s diary doesn’t record precisely where the landing beaches were, only that they were close to a town called Avola south of Catania. Whilst there I looked for any evidence of the landings and asked locals if they were aware of the events of July 1943 but with no luck.
Like the Burma campaign the 8th army seems somewhat of a forgotten army too. That is particulary poignant and contrasts with the 75th anniversary commemorations of the 1944 D-Day landing. D-Day rightly received acres of press and media reporting and I was in Normandy in June 2019 to see the huge interest in the anniversary. It’s just a shame that there has been no similar recognition of the 1943 Sicily landings.
Last updated 8 May 2020
VE day of course.
Richard Buttrey
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Hello, Richard – I found this because I have my father’s WWII diaries, a 1st Lieutenant, US Army Air Corps, who arrived in England in the fall of 1942, and sailed on the H. M.T. Andes for North Africa. I Googled the ship, out of curiosity, and found this. I’d very much enjoy being in touch with you. I’m a writer/actor and will be using Dad’s diaries in a new solo performance I’m developing (if we survive this accursed corona virus!) Best wishes, Carolyn Meyer