Earl Henry Hodgson in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps

Earl Henry Hodgson was in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps in World War Two.

At the time that he was called up, he was living down Brunswick Street in Leamington Spa and working as a postman. He considered joining the local fire brigade instead, but he had a foot injury from an agricultural accident years before. He had been in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment for a couple of years in the 1920s. If he re-joined them, they said that he would automatically become sergeant. However, he said that he wanted a change and joined the Royal Army Ordnance Corps.

He would not readily talk about the war. A few stories did come out over the years though. He said that, in the run up to D Day, they were obviously very busy getting things packed for the soldiers taking part. After D Day, he was stationed in Germany for a while. If ever you asked him about that, he would just say that the Germans kept the streets clean. My mother said that she could remember him coming home on leave when he was stationed in the UK a few times. He often had to rush to catch the train to get him back to barracks in time.

My mother had a few memories from that time. There used to be a large automotive parts factory near them called Lockheed. She remembered her mother saying that they were bombing Lockheed and could remember looking out of the window and seeing a German bomber. Down their road, there were quite a few Czech and Polish RAF air crew billeted.