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Driving an Ambulance on D-Day

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posted on 2024-06-05, 19:51 authored by Their Finest Hour Project Team

Harold Brown joined the Royal Army Service Corps as an ambulance driver in April 1941. On 6th June 1944, aged 24, he drove his ambulance off the troop carrier and underwater before driving up the beach during the D-Day landings.

Subsequently, his unit, the VIII Corps, fought their way up through Holland where he took part in the liberation of Eindhoven in September 1944. They then went on to Germany where Harold was on duty during the liberation of prisoners from the Belsen Concentration Camp. On VE Day he was stationed west of Lubeck in Germany and recorded in his diary "VE Day, war over. Had a letter from E".

"E" was his wife Rose Elizabeth (nee Johnson) who was an Army Nursing sister. She was stationed in various hospitals in England and Scotland during the war. She kept an autograph book in which her patients recorded their names and messages, and often added drawings. In November 1940 she was stationed in Coventry to nurse survivors of the Coventry Blitz. She and Harold met when they were both stationed at West Haddon in Northamptonshire and they were married in December 1942.

History

Item list and details

1. Harold and Elizabeth's story with photographs. 2. Harold's National Registration Identity Card cover 3. Harold's National Registration Identity Card reverse 4. Field Service postcard sent to Elizabeth 25th June 1944 5. Field Service postcard sent to Elizabeth 25th June 1944 reverse 6. Harold's will on an Army form March 1944 p1 7. Harold's will on an Army form March 1944 p2 8. Christmas card sent by Harold (1944?) 9. Syringe used for painkillers 10. OS Map of Plon in Germany 1945 11. Manual for drivers in Germany 12. Programme for ENSA Performance of 'The Ghost Train' cover 13. Programme for ENSA Performance of 'The Ghost Train' cover inner 14. Harold's service record p1 15. Harold's service record p2 16. Harold's release Certificate 17. RASC Regimental Association card 1946 18. Photo of Harold with his darts team in Plon 19. Group photo 20. Group photo 21. Transfer to Army Reserve 22. Group photo (reunion?) 23. Photo of Elizabeth 24. Photo of Elizabeth 25. Entry in Elizabeth's autograph album

Person the story/items relate to

Harold Ernest Brown Rose Elizabeth Brown (nee Johnson)

Person who shared the story/items

Christine Thornton

Relationship between the subject of the story and its contributor

Parents

Type of submission

Shared at Ahmadiyyah Mosque Hall, Warwickshire on 7 October 2023. The event was organised by Leamington History Group.

Record ID

96383 | LEA043