John Hinde Gardner service as a gunner in the Royal Artillery and 1944-45 diaries

The contributor's grandfather, John Hinde Gardner, known as 'Jack', was a gunner in the Royal Artillery. He served in Europe (France, Austria and Germany), then Africa, then Italy. He was issued medals for service after the war ended, and a star for World War 2, and for Africa and Italy.

He wrote diaries, dated 1944-45. These indicate his movement through cities and regions. His notebook from when he was a sergeant records men in his artillery; it ties crew members down to certain places and tracks specific places. They likely show similar dates to the diaries from 1944-45.

In Italy around 1944-45, a heavy flood washed away his encampment and most of his possessions, so he only had what was in his pockets or physically on his person. A diary entry from September 29th 1944 records this event.

The last entry records the disarming of 2000 SS troops on May 17 1945. He stops writing in 1945 when the war finished. After the war formally ended, he still stayed in the force for some months wrapping things up. He then encountered Bergen-Belsen concentration camp which was horrific. He did not discuss this openly or mention this in his diary.

He returned to England in about 1946.

[Information obtained after the event]

John (Jack) Hinde Gardner was born 30th December 1912 in Lancaster and died 30th July 1986 in Oxford.

He and his wife Ellen (Ellie) had 2 children; Joyce (my mother) born in Lancaster 9th January 1934, still alive and June born in Lancaster 14th May 1940, who died in the 1980s in USA.

Jack left the army in 1960 to work at Minns Plant Hire in Oxford - I liked to go there as a young child because there were lots of diggers! He then became the Storeman in the Nuclear Physics laboratory of Oxford University until his retirement in 1977.

His military background trained him to be very organised and methodical, he reorganised the stores at Nuclear Physics, introduced a booking system and carried out stock checks - he knew the whereabouts of every tool and part right down to the last washer! At home he was the same with his car(s), they were immaculate inside, outside and underneath. He even polished the engine. He also kept notebooks on every fill of petrol, change of oil, tyre pressure checks, mileage, miles per gallon etc. etc.