237459 Robert Harold Moor British Arny 5th Royal Tank Regiment Royal Armoured Corps from:Durham My father Harry Moor joined the Royal Tank Regiment in 1943, either at 17 or 18 years old, was taught to drive in a Bren carrier, then a Churchill before moving on to the Cromwell.
I know he fought in Europe, France, Belgium and eventually Germany, I have photographs he and his crew took although its difficult to place many of them. I do know he was at the liberation of Ghent, there is a photograph of him sitting on the top of his tank in George Fortys' book 'Desert Rats at War - Europe', p 79, His commander at the time being Lt Ted Zoeftig. As an aside he said they only took 200 German prisoners, not the 300 the book states.
He did mention being at Belsen at some point but this may have been after the war.
Although he rarely spoke of the fighting he did talk of being with his commanding officer whilst he was suffering from gun-shot wounds, and died before him, only asking for a last drink of water.
After the war he stayed on until 1949 (at least that was when he returned to the UK) at Hamm, I know he drove a bus during that period of rebuilding and supporting the local community, probably a logical job for a tank driver.
My father met my mother during the post war service, they were married (first in Germany at the Barracks Chappell, I'm told) then again when they returned to the UK, a civil service that was required back then.
As the years passed we holidayed every year in Germany, visiting my mother's relatives and often visited Ghent, my father kept in touch with some of the locals that befriended the 5th during the liberation, I remember (faintly) visiting a cafe there that was still run by the same family.
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