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Sidney Eccles's Wartime Service

online resource
posted on 2024-06-05, 16:39 authored by Their Finest Hour Project Team

Started off as a private when enlisted on 28 Oct 1939.
Finished as Company Quarter Master Sargent 25 April 1946.
Senior NCO in a company of approx. 150 men.
Demobbed on 24 April 1946.
Evacuated from Dunkirk on 25 May 1940.
Had a serious motorbike accident, and almost died in 1943.
On D-Day and the 5th and 11th of June 1944, landed in Normandy and then spent the next 18 and more months going through France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany with the Allied forces.
Driver with Royal Army Service Corps.
Knocked off his motorcycle by a lorry on his training exercise, on 25 July 1943.
Both wife and mother were summoned to South Wales because a priest had read last rites - didn't think he was going to survive.
Did survive.
The family received the notification that Sidney was seriously ill.
Personal message from General Montgomery
Given a booklet on Germany and the Germans - tell them what to expect when got to Germany, which took about a year.
Newspaper clipping of where Sidney landed on either the Gold or Juno beach.
"They landed in two feet of water", quoted from the war diary of his unit, 552 Company RASC.

History

Item list and details

1. Image of Sidney Eccles and his medals 2. Overview of Sidney Eccles service during war 3. Diary 4. German compass. Father brought back a German compass. Very close to the front line. Came across German bodies and PoW. Had to deliver things to the front line. Compass is a memento from the front line. 5. Notification that Sidney Eccles was missing. Posted missing on 22 May 1940. Evacuated on 25 May 1940 from Dunkirk. 338,000 men were evacuated from Dunkirk, contributor's father was one of them. 6. Notification that Sidney Eccles was seriously ill 7. A personal message from General Montgomery 8. A booklet on Germany and the Germans 9. Newspaper clipping of where Sidney landed on either the Gold or Juno beach. 10. Diary of a Dunkirk veteran 11. Wallet from Hanover during the war, and French-issued banknotes.

Person the story/items relate to

Sidney Eccles

Person who shared the story/items

Robert Eccles

Relationship between the subject of the story and its contributor

He was their father

Type of submission

Shared at RGS Worcester Perrins Hall, Worcestershire on 16 June 2023.

Record ID

97186 | WOR027