218815 Sgt. William Dean Geddes Royal Artillery 4 Lt Bde. 31 Fd Regt from:Glasgow My grandfather, William Dean Geddes enlisted at Glasgow into the Royal Artillery on 30th of January 1935. he did his basic training at Woolwich (three months) posted to 4th Light Brigade at Deepcut, moving to Brighton 1937. In 1939 he was posted to Egypt as a L/Bdr sailing from Southampton in HMT Lancashire landing Port Said 4th July 1939 to 31 Field Regiment Royal Arillery at Helmeia, Cairo. The Regt moved with 4 Indian div to Mersa Matruh remaining during the desert campaigns of the next 2 years & firing their 25 pdrs almost daily. After Sidi Berani fell, they sailed from Alexandria to the Sudan to move into Eritrea for that 4 month campaign before returning to Cairo. The biggest action in Eritrea was the capture of the heights above Keren after a two monthsiege. In April 1942 the Regiment having suffered many casualties & losing their guns in a GE Tank attack at Sidi Omar, went to form a composite Regiment on Cyprus. In Dec 1942 he was posted to Egypt to join the SAS at Kabrit Trg for under cover ops, which they carried out on the north coast of Africa, in the Aegean Sea & Cretan area of Greece. He was promoted to Bombardier & after the Syrian & Palestine campaigns of 1943 & 1944, he returned to the UK in August 1944 & rejoined SAS Regt at Chelmsford after detached SB duties & later went to Norway in 1945. After disbandment of the SAS just post war he returned to 24 HAA Regt RA as a sgt at Sheerness staying until 1949 when he was posted to school of AA Gunnery for a year as an instructor & then went to Gravesend to join 46 Regt RA until his discharge on 29th of January 1957. After 22 years with the colours.
My grandfather died on 11th April 1989 at Royal Hospital Chelsea & is buried at Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey (old plot).
Sadly my father never got to meet his father. We just have a few photos & his wonderful service history.
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