Eric Gordon Heywood's Memorabilia from WW2

Fork - it's got the last four digits of Eric's army number on it. I believe that he got it when he first joined up in 1939 so it has seen many trips and a little action. Eric was in the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. He was a very proud man and was very proud of his regiment.

Medals - sent to him at his address at 44 Savile Street, Emley. An address that has many memories for the family. Many have either lived there or attended family events there, including Christmas celebrations and Dad's own wedding in 1949. Up until 2021, it was still in the family. The house has been in the family since at least 1939. The medals include the Italy Medal, as he was at the Salerno Landing. I think he was in the second wave of troops to land. There is also the 1939-45 medal, which I believe most people who served got.

Africa Star - Dad was in the 8th Army, based in Africa. I think this was probably his first action. He was a member of the Desert Rats, and very proud of this he was. Led by General Montgomery.

France and Germany Star - France and Germany was where he finished the war. He finished the war in a place called Halthambuckle, where he befriended a German family. They were still corresponding two years after I was born in 1960. I do have various photographs at home of the German family he befriended, and they made it plainly clear to my dad that they weren't Nazi sympathisers. This is where I got my middle name from because my middle name is Urwin. It's a German name because one of their family members was called Urwin.

Christmas menu from 1945 - he was obviously in Germany. At the front of it, it's got France, England, Ireland, Persia, Italy and Palestine. I do believe at one time or another he was in one or all of these places. The Christmas menu is not dissimilar to anything that we get today they obviously treated them well just after the war was finished. This was at the end of the war when he was still in Germany.