I’m writing to let people know of some new additions to my web site. Wilf Shaw, of Oldham, has been in touch with me and has provided a bucketful of war photos and memories. He was at Dunkirk, Alamein, Tobruk, Wadi Akarit, Sicily, D-Day, Holland and more! He was wounded twice and still returned to battle. He is 92 years of age.
Of particular interest to me are some photos he sent in of many comrades at Qassasin Camp in North Africa. Dad mentions Qassasin in his war memoirs and describes it as follows:
" We ended up at a large, tented camp about a mile west of the Suez Canal, which was the main British military base in Egypt, Qassasin Camp, and it was indeed just that, there were very few brick-built buildings. Qassasin was described as ‘that bugbear of all British troops newly arrived in the Middle East.’ It was alleged, if you hadn’t already got ‘jippy tummy’, this was the place you could expect it. There were swarms of thousands of flies and when we were eating or drinking they would settle on our lips and we had to constantly wave them off our food." - Bill Cheall
It was great for me personally to see some pictures of Qassasin for the first time. Some of the comrades are named so may be of interest to genealogists researching their family history.
Read more about Wilf and see his super photo set at this war photo link. I’m attaching a few of his photos for you to see.
Many thanks Wilf!
Paul
No comments:
Post a Comment