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Scroll down for the new stuff. Leicester Mercury 26th March 2005
SURVIVOR OF A 1,000-MILE FORCED MARCH
A remarkable and touching story about the stoic bravery of one Leicester
soldier has been sent to me by Mrs Joyce Swann, of Long Eaton.Pte Tom
Tomlinson, who lived in Glen Park Avenue, in Glenfield, took part in the
"disastrous" Norwegian campaign.
Mrs Swann says: "We have many letters written by Tom Tomlinson to his family
at the time of his joining the Leicestershire Regiment in 1939, his
miserable billeting in the north of England before embarking for Norway and
his subsequent capture and confinement as a prisoner-of-war in Stalag XXA."
The culmination of this ordeal was a 1,000-mile march from the stalag in
Poland and his eventual rescue by the Americans near Hanover.The march
lasted for three months. When 26-year-old Tom was flown home, "he was in a
very poor state, wearing a pair of German jackboots many sizes too big and
taken from a dead German, as he had no boots".
His arrival back in Leicester was reported by the Mercury and he was
described as "weary and depressed, with his feet in a terrible state".In the
words of his sister, he was "in no mood for the celebration that had been
planned to mark his homecoming".
The report goes on to say: "It was with sad eyes that he glanced at the
flags which fluttered in the street" and that "he told in a few simple words
a story of appalling hardship during the march, which started on January
20."Prisoners who dropped out of the procession of exhausted men were set on
by dogs."
At home to greet him was his "inseparable pal", Lance Corporal Joseph
Tiffen, also 26, who joined up with Tom on the same day in 1939.They fought
together in the Norwegian Campaign. Tom was captured and Joe hid in the
mountains until he could escape in civilian clothes into Sweden. He was
repatriated and was discharged from a northern convalescent home the day
before the celebration.
L/Cpl Tiffen lost an eye fighting on the Western Front.
Mrs Swann adds: "There must be some survivors still living with these
memories, but alas Tom is no longer with us.
"Very little has been written about this campaign as it was orchestrated by
Winston Churchill and he did not like to be associated with failure." Leicester Mercury 31st March 2005
HEROICS SHROUDED IN SECRECY
I have received a request for information about Samuel Hall, of Ellistown,
who was a soldier with the Leicestershire Regiment.
His daughter, Mrs Anne Cooper, of Redcar, has recently been told of an act
of bravery which earned him a mention in dispatches.
Mr Hall joined up in 1932 and was sent to the North West Frontier.
The regiment returned to England at the outbreak of war and Mr Hall, now a
sergeant, was posted to a recruitment training camp near Glen Parva.
In 1942, he was put through an officer cadet training unit and commissioned
as a 2nd Lieutenant into the 4th Prince of Wales Own Ghurka Rifles and sent
out to India in May 1942.
"This is where the discrepancies occur," says Mrs Cooper.
"According to my mother, news of my arrival in July 1942 took three months
to reach India because of the postal problems. As a result of not hearing
any news, my father had a nervous breakdown and was admitted into the
infamous Dhulally hospital.
"After his release, he was given a comparatively easy job. However, I have
recently been speaking to my cousin, who lives in Ibstock, and she casually
informed me that my father was a war hero.
"As she is four years older, she can remember our grandmother reading an
article in the Leicester Mercury in which my father rescued an English nurse
from the clutches of the Japanese army and was mentioned in dispatches.
"This is the first I have heard about it, but some of it would make sense. I
know my father served in Burma as he was awarded the Burma Star.
"Given the fact that he was in the Ghurkas, he was probably in the thick of
it.
"He also had in his possession a ceremonial Phatan dagger which was given to
him by a Phatan tribesman.
"It just seems very funny that my mother never mentioned this as she was
incredibly proud of my father's military record.
"Certainly, he never spoke of it. I know he was in Dhulally as he was very
proud of the fact that he could do embroidery, crochet and knit - skills he
learnt there.
"He also mentioned places in Burma such as Rangoon and the Irrawaddy River.
"Now that both my parents are dead and there is nothing in his old Army
memorabilia that refers to the incident, I wonder if any of your older
readers may recall anything about it?
"One other thing I do not know about was that, while at Glen Parva, he was
instructed that in the case of invasion, he was to form an underground
resistance group in Charnwood Forest and use Mount St Bernard's Abbey as a
contact point."This was because of his knowledge of the area.
"Before the war, he had been a groom to Colonel Graham, who eventually
became the senior British officer at Colditz."
If anyone can help Mrs Cooper with her requests, she can be contacted on
01642 295482 or by e-mail at:
wiz.cooper@gmail.com
| Leicester Mercury
10:30 - 07 April 2005
| | A £5,000 cash grant was presented to Army veterans building a Tigers museum in the county.
The community grant was presented to Captain Robert Allen, trustee of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment Museum at the Carillon War Memorial Museum in Queens Park.
Charnwood borough councillors decided to donate cash to the museum, to be built in Leicester, after other districts agreed to do so.
The Tigers regiment has so far raised around £250,000 toward the full cost of the £1.5 million museum, which will outline the regiment's 300-year history.
Charnwood Borough Council leader Max Hunt presented the cheque. He said: "Donations have been offered by a number of town and district councils and we were pleased to make a donation of £5,000 towards the museum in recognition of the contribution the regiment has made to the people of Charnwood.
"It has also been suggested that the new museum could work in partnership with the Carillon War Memorial Museum here in Loughborough."
| Leicester Mercury 07 April 2005
50 YEARS AGO
The Tigers said goodbye to Britain yesterday as 700 officers and men of the 1st Battalion, the Royal Leicestershire Regiment, sailed from Southampton in the troopship Dilwara, bound for Khartoum, in the Sudan.
About 70 wives and children of officers and men are also on board the Dilwara.
Bound for tropical sunshine, the men wore grey coats on arrival at the docks from their transit camp at Ogbourne St George, Wiltshire.
PACKED HALL HEARS TRIBUTE TO THE TIGERS
10:30 - 22 March 2005 A packed De Montfort Hall enjoyed a concert in memoryof those who fought and died for the Royal Leicestershire Regiment.
More than 1,500 people heard the Minden Band of The Queen's Division play a programme with military and patriotic themes.
The event is expected to have raised £12,000 for the Tigers' regimental museum fund.
Seventy musicians and 150 singers - many from Leicestershire choirs - took to the stage.
Tigers veteran Colonel Bill Dawson said: "People have come out to support the Tigers and hear a very good military band. People have a lot of interest in military music."
Freda Hussain, the High Sheriff of Leicestershire, a patron of the regiment's appeal, said: "As a head teacher, I support it and I'd like students in our schools to be able to visit the museum and learn from the first-hand experiences of the regiment." May 23 2005
ADEN CAMPAIGN I write in reference to your article (Leicester Mercury, May 23) about the collection in the Shires shopping centre on behalf of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment Museum Appeal.
I feel the need to correct an inaccuracy. Mr Roulston was either misquoted or misunderstood.
The Leicesters certainly did not lose 50 men in the Radfan Mountains. The conflict in Aden and up country in the Radfan Mountains took place between 1955 and 1967. More than 200 soldiers died as a result of action. These were from many regiments and corps.
May I thank the Mercury for its continuing support for the appeal.
It will be a museum the people of Leicestershire will be proud of, showing the contribution the county has made to this country's military history - even the ill-conceived campaigns like Aden.
Mel Gould, Loughborough.<o:p></o:p> ___________________________________<o:p></o:p> [I] “feel the need to add a Post Script to the above”<o:p></o:p> Hindsight is a great tool, if only we had it before an event took place, sadly we don’t and history judges us, and our decisions made at that time, by today’s [soon to be tomorrows] standards.<o:p></o:p> {webmaster]
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