The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies. If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.     Site Home     WW2 Home     Add Stories     WW2 Search     Library     Help & FAQs  WW2 Features     Airfields     Allied Army     Allied Air Forces     Allied Navy     Axis Forces     Home Front     Battles     Prisoners of War     Allied Ships     Women at War     Those Who Served     Day-by-Day     Library     The Great War  Submissions     Add Stories     Time Capsule     TWMP on Facebook     Childrens Bookshop  FAQ's     Help & FAQs     Glossary     Volunteering     Contact us     News     Bookshop     About Advertisements World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945

246068 Tpr. Frank DeAngeli British Army 56th Recce Regiment, 5 Sqd. Reconnaissance Corps from:28 Glenister Park Rd., Streatham Vale, London My father Frank DeAngeli began the war as a student at Battersea Grammar School and later joined the Pioneer Corps. As he was born in Rome he was considered an enemy alien (he had never lived in Italy and spoke no Italian). In the Pioneer Corps he met and worked with many wonderful aliens, mostly Germans who had fled Germany. According to my father, all were eager to join a fighting unit and do their part. Later in the war they were given their chance and my father was able to enlist in the Reconnaissance service in 1944, I think, he said he joined after Monte Cassino and passed it on the way to join his group. When he met up with his group, a Lieutenant Edwards said to him "are you related to Rico De Angeli?" and my father said "that is my brother Rico!" and he took my father into his troop. My father served under Lieutenant Edwards, who he described as a true hero. Lieutenant Edwards received a Silver Star and a Military Cross which according to my father was very much deserved. My father's service was in the Gothic Line part of the fight and the main struggle centered around the heavily fortified River Senio. The river was mined, the banks were mined, the hill above the banks were dotted with armed turrets and a tunnel ran along the River for resupply and communications. He drove a Bren Carrier. The 56 Recce was the first Allied Unit to enter Austria after surrender. My father said his job on the first night was to guard white Russians who had fought with the Germans against the Communist Soviet Army. They were about to be repatriated to the Soviet Union where they would certainly be killed so they were considered to be unpredictable as they had nothing to lose. My father said he was assigned a German solider as a partner. I found a small German dictionary with my father's name and a wartime date in it. I asked my father about it and he said there was a young lady he wanted to communicate with. Of course, the soldiers were discouraged from making friends with the civilian population. At the end of the War, my father and other young Recces, were pulled into other units and my Dad was moved to the 12th Royal Lancers. Sent first to Egypt and then to Palestine, where they were assigned the job of keeping the peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Frank De Angeli, after the war Jane De Angeli Add to this record.  Related Content: Pioneer Corps 56th Recce Regiment 12th Royal Lancers Italian Campaign 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.