The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

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206018 Cpl. William Gray British Army Highland Light Infantry from:School Street, Whifflet, Coatbridge, Lanarkshire My Dad, William Gray served in the HLI with either the 5th. or 6th. Battalation and I'm sure was at Maryhill Barracks in Glasgow around '39 to '40. He volunteered and trained as a Commando and was billeted in Buckie. He took part in night-time raids especially Walcheren Island, Holland where he was wounded. As his mates carried him on a stretcher back to their boat ignored the bullets, and brought a dressing gown from his home which he placed over him to keep him warm - a kindness remembered with great affection. We have always treasured this memory as an indication of the respect between the Dutch and the Scots. His C.O. sent my mother a lovely tribute as my Dad was hospitalised for some time. (He was to develop T.B. from his chest wounds and was in Hairmyres Hospital for approximately 10 years before being sent home to die around 1952. (We visited him there every Sunday via old, cold buses for the long trip.) My younger brother is extremely keen to access our Dad's records. We cannot find his Service number, and so we cannot effectively trace his progress I'm now a retired Church of Scotland Parish Minister who has the privilege of conducting the public Remembrance Service in Oban each year. Any help you can give (especially Dad's Service number) will be greatly appreciated. Rev. William Gray Add to this record.  Related Content: Highland Light Infantry The Commandos Commandos 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.