259318 Sgt. David Henry "Dickie" Lintin British Army 4th Btn. Lincolnshire Regiment from:Spalding, Lincs My grandfather joined the 4th Lincs (TA) Rgt in 1924 at a time when it wasn't a popular thing to do but he always told me it got him a free holiday for two weeks of the year and a free pair of boots.
Despite being quite short his skill at arms got him to the rank of sergeant by the early 1930's.
He was mobilised at the end of May 1939 and posted to Grimbsy at the official outbreak of war in September 1939.
In 1940 he was posted to France just in time to join the retreat of the BEF. Luckily he managed to hitch a lift on an old French trawler some two days after the Dunkirk evacuation was ended (having spent the time being hidden in a local convent by friendly nuns).
On his return to the UK he was waylaid by friends and taken to the local pub to celebrate his escape. My grandmother, meanwhile, had received a telegram from the War Office, listing her husband as missing in action. On being told by a neighbour that he was in the pub she lost no time chasing him out of the Black Swan armed with a frying pan!
My grandfather subsequently volunteered for the RA Maritime Service and travelled on the City of Manchester DEMS via the Cape to Singapore just in time to be sunk off Djillichap in the Dutch East Indies.
After a extended stay in Australia (I still have an Australian half-crown he was given for singing 'Roll-out the barrel' at the local legion branch) he made his way safely home.
|