The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

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204704 Cpl. Reginald Walter Smith British Army 12 Company Royal Army Medical Corps from:Bungay My Father, Reginald Walter Smith, enlisted to the RAMC at Norwich in 1931, aged 17, and served as a regular soldier until 1938, when he left and entered management training with BATA Shoes Ltd, but remained on the army reserve list. He rejoined voluntarily in June 1939, as the likelihood of war became apparent, and was mobilised as a member of 12 Company RAMC with the BEF in September 1939. He was initially stationed at No 1 Base Hospital, Rouen, and later No 2 Base Hospital. Following the Dunkirk evacuation and as defeat in France became imminent, all personnel were ordered to leave Rouen and make for the channel ports further south, and I believe that he, and others, trekked the 200 miles to Saint Nazaire, before being taken off on the SS Oronsay. Oronsay, despite being hit by two bombs and listing badly, went back to pick up survivors from the Lancastria, before sailing for England, and disembarking at Falmouth. Personnel were dispersed across the country, and my Father was sent to Leeds, before eventually being sent to North Africa where he remained for the duration of the war. I would be particularly interested in any other recollections linked with my Father's time in France, especially his arrival (HS Maid of Kent?) and the period between leaving Rouen and arriving at Saint Nazaire Nick Fenton-Smith Add to this record.  Related Content: 12 Coy, Royal Army Medical Corps HMS Oronsay Can you help us to add to our records? Add a record to our website. The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them Did you or your relatives live through the Second World War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial? Were you or your relative evacuated? Did an air raid affect your area? If so please let us know. Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice. Contact us. Celebrate your own Family History Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Secomd World War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc. Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.

The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items. The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running. Hosted by: The Wartime Memories Project Website is archived for preservation by the British Library Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV - All Rights Reserved We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.