237165 Lt. Abraham Kenneth Fielding British Army Yorkshire Hussars from:Newhey, Rochdale, Lancs Ken" Fielding was my father. He joined the Yorkshire Hussars in January 1943 from the King's Own. The regiment had just arrived in Egypt and was kitted out with Sherman and Crusader tanks.
The Regiment was under the command of Lt Col Jimmy Whitehead who, by coincidence, lived quite near Oldham in Lancashire and was known to the Fielding family. No 2 in the Regiment was Major the Earl of Faversham. I have correspondence between my father and mother throughout 1943 and in it my father describes being invited to dine with the Earl shortly after he had joined the regiment. He was nervous but was settled down with large G&T's and being asked by the Earl whether he was good on horseback and whether he had brought his guns out with him.
Other senior officers at the time included the Earl of Ronaldshay and compared to the King's Own the atmosphere was very much more relaxed. They got up to a lot of pranks, too numerous to list here, and the dress was very much like a Cavalry Regiment which, of course, the Yorkshire Hussars had been before mechanisation. Soft cap, cords and desert boots rather than the typical berry etc of RAC.
My father didn't know that he had a baby daughter back home until, when recovering in hospital in Cairo, the chap in the next bed saw an announcement of birth and photo of mother and child and said "hey, there's someone here that might be a relative of yours" and there was his wife and first child, my sister Alexandra.
Getting a little bit emotional now so I'll sign off.
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