Jim
was born in West Hartlepool, County
Durham on 14th March 1919. He enlisted in the Durham Light Infantry in 1934
as a man, though he was, in fact, still fifteen. As a pre-war regular
soldier he had a great deal of overseas service in places which today are
forbidden, such as Khartoum, Shanghai, Tientsin and Peking.
During the War he was
in North Africa from the early days, serving at Mersa Matruh and Benghazi,
before being sent to Syria and the Lebanon in the Campaign against the Vichy
French. On his return to North Africa, he was sent by destroyer to Tobruk,
where he was also present when British Forces were able to break out. His
next posting was to Malta, which was then under siege.
At
the end of the siege he became a parachutist, joining the 4th Brigade then
forming in the Middle East. He did his parachute training at Ramat David,
near Haifa.
By then he had put in
a very long time overseas, and so, was sent back to UK on Python (Long
Service Leave). He was then posted back to his old Regiment the Durham Light
Infantry, with whom he also served in France and Germany, from October 1944
to August 1945. He was finally discharged in 1946.
