230814 Pte. George Tingle British Army 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards from:Keighley, Yorks My father, George Tingle was stationed in Dumfries, Scotland during WW11. He joined the Army before the war started. He was billeted in the mills on St Michaels Street along with Guardsman Michael Meek, and Guardsman George Gott all of whom married local girls as did my Dad.
Dad met mum and they married in October 1942. Thankfully he missed El Alamein. He was also stationed at Blairgowrie in Perthshire before sailing to North Africa. Dad was the battalion butcher and I can recall many of his stories of scrounging food and I seem to remember him and others stealing a pig! .... could have been in Italy. All the names of places in North Africa and Italy I remember him telling me and my 2 brothers, even the names of those little islands in the Med now in the news again with the human tide in Europe. Lampedusa and Pantelleria - the battalion lost men there.
Dad befriended a small dog in North Africa and managed some how with the help of an officer get it through customs which was no easy task in those days. And, even after months, Tosh the dog knew him straight away.
I have very few photos of dad in the war days. My older brother has the Guards History "No Dishonourable Name" in which appears, on my next trip to the UK I hope to obtain a copy. Well that's a small piece of war time history which I am very proud of, as they say here in Australia: "Lest we forget"
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