The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

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242214 L/Cpl. Harry Edward Clifton Pack British Army 9th Btn. Devonshire Regiment from:3 Chesterfield Road, Leyton My father, Harry Pack, did not talk much about the War. He served with the 9th, 10th, 77th and 30th Devonshires. I know he was at Dunkirk and D-day. He also served on the Isle of Scilly. He received an accidental injury in 1945 and was transferred to the Y-list. I only found this out from his military record and have no idea what the injury was. The most poignant story he told was seeing his best friend blown up next to him. Every Remembrance Day he would drive out into the countryside so he wouldn't have to hear the gun salute. My mother said he wore a dark red beret. I believe that meant he was a paratrooper at one point. She also said he taught other soldiers how to land from a parachute jump. He did tell some funny stories. He was a bit mischievous at times. One day he was patrolling through the countryside and seeing some onions in a farmer's field, he and a fellow soldier found a tin bath and filled it up. Another time it was his turn to cook the dinner. He burnt the meat and, ever the optimist, he found some curry powder to disguise the taste. The men said it was the best meal they ever had. One day, when he was on leave and not supposed to leave the town, he persuaded a man with a private aircraft to fly him home. I am very proud of my father. The results of the war affected him through his life, as it did many soldiers, but he did his duty for his country and you can't ask for more than that. Dad, aged 21 Dad in his beret. Kay Pack Add to this record.  Related Content: 9th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment Operation Dynamo - The Evacuation from Dunkirk and nearby Beaches Battle of France and The Low Countries 1940 D Day and the Battle of Normandy 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.