Fred Hamblett was a resident of Oldham, Lancashire. (His mother lived at 33 Button Green, Choldeston, Lancs). By the time Fred arrived in Sicily he had already served with the 8th Army in Africa under Montgomery.
He and his unit then left Alexandria for Crete where he narrowly escaped being captured when the Island fell to the Luftwaffe.
Only 7 officers and 161 men managed to get off the island leaving 250 dead and 400 Prisoners of War behind them.
In late 1942 a period of regrouping took place after the debacle in Crete but it wasn't long before 1st Welch was again in action against the Germans, this time it was to be against Rommel in the fierce struggles for Benghazi in January 1942. After the evacuation from Benghazi, the unit was split into its various companies which were forced to make their own way across hundreds of miles of mine and German infested desert.
One company was captured after covering only 25 miles after being surrounded by German tanks. Another group, fearing almost inevitable capture, spit up and trekked across hundreds of miles of desert before reaching safety. Some of the individual stories of these men contain epic feats of endurance and survival as they crossed over 200 miles of barren desert while enduring heat, cold, thirst and hunger.
The next mammoth task set for 1st Welch Regiment was their part in "Operation Husky" the invasion of Sicily on 9th/10th of July 1943. They trained in Palestine for the forthcoming beach landings during March and became one of the famous Beach Brick units (34 Beach Brick) which were tasked with the organisation and essential flow of men and materials required for the landings.
The landings of course were ultimately successful, partly due to the equally famous Operation Mincemeat which was the subterfuge operation which entailed the discovery of the fictitious Major Martin floating at sea with a briefcase full of secret documents which totally convinced the Germans that our real objective was the invasion of Greece and Sardinia, when all the time it was really Sicily. Operation Mincemeat was made famous by the well-known film
The Man Who Never Was.
Fred Hamblett's Citation reads:
An Immediate Award Of The Military Medal
4863129. Pte F. Hamblett was a member of a Brick Engineer working company with specific instructions to land essential R.E. Stores and takeover urgent R.E. Work. The L.C.I. which brought his company in received direct hits from shell-fire which set the craft on fire. They were landed 5 miles from their proper beach, still under shell fire, in an area heavily mined and booby-trapped. There were several casualties in Pte Hambletts Section he himself being wounded in the thigh and groin by shell splinters. Despite this, he retained his personal load of explosives and insisted, though in great pain on marching the 5 miles to the correct beach. Here he was removed to Hospital and evacuated.
His courage, endurance and devotion to duty were a fine example to all.
Pte. Hamblett and his fellow, 5342676 Private Ronald Bertie Morton, were both carrying explosives, as part of sections in transit to the beaches of Sicily. They were sailing in the Battalion HQ Landing Craft when it received a direct hit from German long-range artillery. The shell set the craft on fire, disabled the gun crew and the bridge, and led to its final sinking near the beach.
When ashore, it was fast realised that their landing had been made no less than 5 miles away from their proper beach in a place infested with anti-personnel mines and uncut wire. One of the sections was killed and another wounded by a booby trap and both Hamblett and Morton were wounded by splinters. Hamblett in the thigh and groin and Morton in the arm and body. Despite this and the shelling, the two men retained their personal load of explosives and neither made any complaint and kept up with the rest of their party during their 5 mile trek on sand to the bivouac area.
It was only with difficulty that Pte Morton was persuaded to exchange carrying his Bren Gun for a lighter rifle. On reaching the bivouac area both men were treated and evacuated to a Hospital Ship on 11th July.
The officer's report on the incident records, "...until we halted, we had not known Hamblett was hit and after a rough dressing by the Sgt Major, he pronounced himself fit for anything.
His supreme efforts merited him this Military Medal which was awarded immediately during the allied invasion of Sicily which we now proudly offer here. The award citation was signed personally by General Bernard Montgomery.
A magnificent and historically important gallantry group for The Invasion of Sicily, to a man who clearly just wasn't going to quit on his duty, no matter what the circumstances.
