The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

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244965 Pte. William Ledger MM. British Army 186th Field Ambulance Royal Army Medical Corps from:Dunston-on-Tyne Bill Ledger served in the RAMC. He was quiet simply the kindest, most loveliest man I had the privilege to call my uncle. He devoted his life to St John's Ambulance and the Dunkirk veterans association and also to the Royal British Legion. He and his wife, Ann, lived in Dunston all their lives. He was well known and loved by all who knew him. Even though he attended military commemorative events and wore his medals with pride he never talked of his time in the army except to play it down. For example when I asked about his Dunkirk medal he would just say "we got that for running away" wink and give a little cheeky smile. His military medal citation reads: "On the night of the 20th/21st of March 1943 this Orderly was on duty in an advanced and unprotected Advanced Dressing Station at 628075 half a mile from the most forward Regimental Aid Post. During a period of very intense mortar fire and air bursts, he heard a wounded man crying in pain near 69th brigade HQ. Without any regard to his personal safety he set out by himself and brought this casualty in unaided through heavy fire. By his gallant deed he most certainly saved this soldier's life. In addition he showed the greatest coolness and endurance and was a continual source of inspiration to his comrades. It is felt that the conduct of this soldier during battle merits immediate recognition." When he died aged 84, his comrades gave him a full military funeral. I was so proud of him but I'm still finding more and more things about him. Like finding the citation for his M.M which made me cry when I read it the first time. We miss him dearly. Sarah Ledger Simpson Add to this record.  Related Content: 186th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps 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.