Letter written by Sgt Ivor S Mitchell about his rescue from the desert by Wyndam Jones, 8th Kings Royal Irish Hussars to Wyndam's wife in 1944
6896348 Sgt I. S. Mitchell
C.O. Sgt's Mess
1st 175 BTN
KRR
Winsall
Yorks
1-8-1944
Dear Mrs Jones
When I last saw your husband on the 31st May 1945, I asked for his home address in the event that either of us reaching England. I asked him for the address in Tobruk, two days before it fell to the Germans.
I was a wounded stretcher case at the time, your husband had been wounded in the leg, but could with a great effort, walk about.
Had he not made that effort, I and two others would have been left on the desert with severe wounds to God knows what fate.
On May the 27th 1942 the Germans made a heavy attack prior to their push back to El Alamein, after they had swept over us and driven the 8th Army back, there were many wounded lying on the field. Your husband was one and I was the other who eventually found themselves picked up by the Germans and piled into their ambulances.
The Germans left us for two days until the third morning they took us out of the ambulance and laid us on the ground to dress our wounds.
During the operation the whole German column was startled by something, they hurriedly repacked their vehicles and after placing many of the wounded back into the ambulances they left.
Leaving the two of us lying on stretchers on the ground, neither of us could get up, the other nine men with us had shoulder wounds etc, but could stand up.
It is a long story but that party of eleven after being machine-gunned and strafed, dwindled down to four, of which your husband was one.
Now this is where your husband in my eyes and in the eyes of the other members of the quartet, did a gallant deed, if it had not been for him, God knows what would have happened to us.
Although suffering with a bad wound in the calf of his leg, on the second day after we had lain out there, he set off without compass, food or water for we had none. We saw his figure for hours painfully trekking across the desert until he disappeared.
How long he was gone I couldn't say but it seemed like years. I know it was just after dawn when he left us there, one of the three of us was too far gone to understand what was going on around him. Well into the day we saw a speck of dust on the horizon, it grew bigger and bigger until we could make out a vehicle coming in our direction, at first we thought it was the Hun.
Believe me men do cry, I saw tears in the other men's eyes and I had tears in mine, for the vehicles turned out to be six carriers and a 15cwt truck. In the back of the truck was your husband. He had tramped across the desert with pain in his leg and had bumped into a column and had directed this truck and six carriers back to us, which isn't an easy task with no compass.
By his devotion three wounded men were rescued and brought back to safety. I mentioned the whole escapade to the Major of the column, when we were taken back, but like so many brave deeds which occur in action, only a few ever become recognized.
In my eyes your husband was easily worth the M.M. and more besides but there as I say only a few have these deeds recorded back at home, that makes it all unfair.
God be with your husband wherever he may be
Your sincerely
Ivor S Mitchell