W/Cpl. Chil Jonkiel Lemberger
British Army Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps
from:Haifa, Palestine
Chil Jonkiel Lemberger arrived in Palestine from Berlin in 1933. He volunteered in Palestine on December 1940, first in the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps. He spent seven months in Crete, where he had been stranded. He escaped by his own devices, and vitally, with the help of some saintly simple folks.
Back in his own lines, he was next transferred to the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, of which 37 months were spent in Africa. He was discharged June/July 1946, having served a total of 67 months (five years and 209 days). He received to war service medals.
Lemberger had some pre-war technical background as an optics technician - to no avail at his age. However, his training and education came from the RAOC. He was sent on rising levels of courses on basic accounting and storemanship. These courses and an experience of large-scale war fought by big battalions, so all the harder to manage, move and supply, came in handy all too soon. At the outbreak of hostilities in 1948 he joined the Israel Defence Force (IDF). He was also in the Sinai in 1956 (of sour memory). He rose to command a major ordnance base, finally ending up as Chief Planning Officer/Chief Munitions Inspector. In this capacity, he travelled extensively on matters of 'acquisition', so his English was a bonus. This produces most interesting visas. I have photos and written documents, namely of AMPC, and the same man in RAOC in Africa. One Pioneer, seems most curious. Three men in a little boat No. H.R 218[5/3?]00, on a sandy beach, by a massive coastal castle. My grandfather ran the model workshop in 15th area camouflage. He received superlatives from his commander and was, citing his CO, a master craftsman in all materials.
