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.
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 albumPerson the story/items relate to
Harold Ernest Brown
Rose Elizabeth Brown (nee Johnson)Person who shared the story/items
Christine ThorntonRelationship between the subject of the story and its contributor
ParentsType of submission
Shared at Ahmadiyyah Mosque Hall, Warwickshire on 7 October 2023. The event was organised by Leamington History Group.Record ID
96383 | LEA043