The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

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245984 Pte. Harold Octavius "Charlie" Hutchinson British Army 8th Battalion Middlesex Regiment from:North Shields, Northumberland Our late dad, Harold Hutchinson affectionately known by his side of the family as Charlie, grew up in Percy Main on Tyneside in the 1910s and 1920s. He was the youngest of 8 children, his parents losing the first-born twin boys only months after their birth. His dad worked on the ship-building side of the local economy, which was focused on shipping out the locally-mined coal (hence Percy Main as in the main coal-seam). He was to be orphaned by the age of 13 or 14 and was placed in the Tynemouth Workhouse, being taken in by his older sister for short periods when she had enough money to feed him. He later moved to London in search of work and signed up for the 8th Batallion of the Middlesex Regiment upon war-time call-up in 1940. He and his army colleagues initially spent quite a long time training in various parts of the country before eventually being deployed in Europe, being a qualified driver for his regiment, which operated alongside the Wessex Regiment and was also known as the Machine Gun Regiment. He sustained back injuries in action and returned home to recuperate before being re-deployed at the London garage of London and Country Buses. He was de-mobbed at the end of the War, by which time he was father to an 19 month old son and a second son, only weeks old. He took the boys and their mother to stay with one of his older brothers near Ipswich, and they were soon able to rent a requisitioned empty estate-cottage some 10 or so miles away in the middle of the countryside. Our parents eventually married and our dad worked as a building labourer for a good many years, including working on laying concrete sleepers on the East Coast railway line and working on the construction of one of the Sizewell nuclear power stations. His last job was on a plant nursery in our home village before he retired and moved to a more modern rented bungalow in a neighbouring village. He died there in 1993 and a plaque on a memorial bench near his final resting place commemorates his life. Michael Hutchinson Add to this record.  Related Content: 8th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment 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.

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