Although my father Ronald's military career was brief, it was dazzling. He was enlisted into the Royal Artillery in 1940, aged 22, was commissioned in 1941 and promoted to Major, acting up as Lieutenant-Colonel towards the end of his time. At one time he was the youngest major in the Royal Artillery.
Ronald served in the Western Desert Campaign under Field-Marshall Montgomery, at one point serving as a junior staff officer for him. He sustained a fractured pelvis in September 1943 resulting in lifelong osteoarthritis.
"The 31st Field Regt. R.A. was in the area [Jerusalem] for mountain warfare training and I was a passenger in a vehicle which overturned causing the fracture of the pelvis, other minor injuries and shock," he wrote. All other occupants of the vehicle were killed. He spent months in military hospitals in Jerusalem and Sarafand.
He was awarded the 1939-1945 Star, the 1939-1945 George VI Medal, the Africa Star and the Defence Medal.
At the end of the war he went to staff college in Woolwich, and it was his intention to stay in the army after the war. He was going to be posted to India, but his second child was due and he chose to leave the army to be with his wife and children.
He was discharged on 27 November 1946.
All
photos are from my family collection. Thanks to my sister Kate Moulin for some
of the detail.
Ronald in June 1940
Buerat, Libya. "Official photograph passed by publicity censor."
Zliten, Libya.
Ronald is the second on the left.
"Official photograph passed by publicity censor."
Heliopolis, September 1942. Ronald wrote on the back: "It's all the fault of the sandwich in my R. hand!!"
Ronald on the left, seated, at the foot of the Great Pyramid of Cheops
Tanks firing
"Official photograph passed by publicity censor."
"Official photograph passed by publicity censor."
"A smashing Xmas, Adolf. Official photograph passed by publicity censor."
Ronald in February 1944
Ronald on the far right in South Africa. "I'm not as stiff as this would suggest!! Perhaps I adopted it 'cos I'd been so long on my back."
Ronald on the far left. "Bob and I look just about as brown as we are!!"
Ronald taking "light refreshment at Aswan. N.B. it's lemonade - not beer - worse luck. Sept. 44."
"The guns - in action - for the last time!! St Barnabas Day memorial service. 4 Dec. 45, Almaza, Cairo."
Letter from The War Office dated 11 October 1946.
Ronald with my mum Pat, 27 July 1984.
I have Ronald's trunk and complete army uniform, including pyjama case and goggles.
