This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies.
If you enjoy this siteplease 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
256170Sgt. Stanley John "Tanker" Barker
British Army 2nd Btn. Royal Norfolk Regiment
from:Northampton
From memory, my father, Stanley Barker served with the 1st Battalion, Royal Norfolk's in India from 1933 through to 1938. He took his discharge at this time and was placed into the reserves, was called up at the out break of WW2 and went to France with the BEF. Here things become blurred, he was court marshalled for refusing to drive a Bren gun Carrier saying "the bloody Jerries are hiding up the trees and dropping grenades into them". As written elsewhere, the Norfolk's were at Paradise sur Mare. where he was at this time there is record, luckily for me he was there or I wouldn't be writing this.Then the next bit of family history starts around Hull after the evacuation. He had several worthwhile adventures there. I clearly remember him telling us that after an air raid he and his company were given the job of cleaning out the basements of the shops. He said as they made their way down into one of the basements it appeared as if there were lots of burned and distorted bodies standing around, only find out that they were all store mannequins.
His next experience was as light. Apparently the Norfolk's had got the nickname of "the babes in the woods" after the place where they were camped. Dad was a real larrikin. He apparently said "they will be bombing the babes in the woods next". He was court marshalled again.
There is nothing in the family history until he is posted to India on the 13th of April 1942. Again not much happened, or much he would speak about. We know he was at Kohimaand and that he was wounded. It turned out that my mother was an army nurse already in India and she nursed him. He took his discharge in India, as did my mother and they married there then my brother was born there. After his discharge, Dad was in the Indian Police until the Pakistan India separation they then went home to the UK.
Related Content:
Can you help us to add to our records?
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.
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:
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.