The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies. If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.     Site Home     WW2 Home     Add Stories     WW2 Search     Library     Help & FAQs  WW2 Features     Airfields     Allied Army     Allied Air Forces     Allied Navy     Axis Forces     Home Front     Battles     Prisoners of War     Allied Ships     Women at War     Those Who Served     Day-by-Day     Library     The Great War  Submissions     Add Stories     Time Capsule     TWMP on Facebook     Childrens Bookshop  FAQ's     Help & FAQs     Glossary     Volunteering     Contact us     News     Bookshop     About Advertisements World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945

205838 Sgt. John Charles Francis British Army Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers from:84, The Cottages, Rosendale Road, Herne Hill London SE24 When World War 2 came along. my Dad John Francis signed up. He joined the Royal Army Service Corps, and served in France and Belgium. When the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) were formed in 1940 Dad joined them and was as a Corporal fitter. Then he was forced along with the whole British army to leave France via Dunkirk. Dad described the scene and told how the little boats that came across to rescue the trapped army back to England. Then had to jump onto a slow moving boat in windy bumpy conditions to get home. He was promoted to Master Fitter (Sergeant) and when the D- Day happened he eventually was stationed in Ostend. His team would collect and receive the broken down vehicles and tanks and blown up tanks and have to get them back on the road. This was a messy job to clean away the human remains and refit the tanks for action. Dad was at Caen – Cormelles in ’44 as part of the Armoured Offensive after D Day. Dad when he was in WW2 was stationed at Nijmegen in Oct ’44. Nijmegen was part of operation Market Garden assault that was the largest airborne operation of all time. The operation plan's strategic context required the seizure of bridges across the Maas (Meuse River) and two arms of the Rhine (the Waal and the Lower Rhine) as well as several smaller canals and tributaries. Crossing the Lower Rhine would allow the Allies to outflank the Siegfried Line and encircle the Ruhr, Germany's industrial heartland. The REME were there to ensure the tanks and vehicles were constantly refurbished when damaged. Dad met Mum on one of his leave of duty and soon a romance was started. Mum was a Sergeant in the Woman’s Army Auxiliary Corps. They married in Blantyre, Scotland. Dad continued in the War until VE day. Barrie Francis Add to this record.  Related Content: Royal Army Service Corps Royal Army Service Corps Royal Army Service Corps Royal Army Service Corps Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Operation Dynamo - The Evacuation from Dunkirk and nearby Beaches Battle of France and The Low Countries 1940 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.