234161 Pte. Henry "Pat" Regan British Army 199th Field Ambulance Royal Army Medical Corps from:London My father, Henry Regan enlisted to the RAMC 199th Field Ambulance on 14th of March 1940 and had his initial training in the wards of the hospital at Millbank as a nursing orderly. For many years prior to the war, he had worked as a cook (1st class) in a London hotel, which is documented in army records now in my possession. For most of WW2 he served as both a nursing orderly and cook in North Africa and, as far as I know, his duties later took him to Malta and Italy.
One day, while travelling through the desert in an ambulance, seated next to the driver and with injured servicemen on board, the vehicle came under fire from a passing German plane and, although the attack was thankfully brief, the driver was injured. My dad had never driven any motor vehicle before, but he took the wheel and the journey continued on to base camp without further incident.
On hearing this tale as a young lad, I looked at my dad and asked, 'How did you manage to drive the ambulance with no previous driving experience then?'
He grinned. 'When you're on a dusty road in the desert, there isn't a lot you could run into!'
Apart from this story, my dad rarely spoke of the war. Many ex-servicemen, I imagine, would prefer to forget much of what they witnessed and did at that time. On the other hand, without the many spoken and written memories of those involved, we would have little, or no, knowledge of their individual experiences during such horrific times.
On 20th of Feb 1945, he was granted leave to the UK and returned to service duties on 29th of March, remaining at Yorkhill Transit Camp until he was released to class Z under the conditions of Royal Army Reserve on 27th of July 1946.
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