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Those known to have fought in Palestine Campaign during the Second World War 1939-1945. The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed,
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Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the War? Our
Library contains an ever growing number diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text. |
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Want to know more about Palestine Campaign? There are:5 items tagged Palestine Campaign available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. |
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W/G1. Percy Booth 3rd Hussars Royal Armoured Corps Percy Booth was my father. He served in WW2 from 7th of September 1939 until 24th of June 1946.
The only information that I have is that he was in the 3rd Hussars and served in Palestine and other countries in the Middle East.
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L/Bmbdr. Ernest Brentnall 81st Anti-Tank, 297th Battery Royal Artillery My Granddad, Ernie Bretnall signed up in 1941 and was posted with 297th Battery, 81st Anti-tank Regiment Royal Artillery firstly in Persia and Iraq in PIAFORCE. Then he was shipped over to Egypt as part of 8th Army and fought in North Africa. I'm guessing now he was at El Alamein and various other battles of fame not what he told me at the time, he said he was an engineer building bomb shelters!!!
Then around end of 1945 he transferred to 79th Regiment Anti-tank and ended up in Palestine.
He did tell me a lot about Palestine and that he saw as much death and destruction peace keeping between the Jews and Arabs beginning to fight over the land there, he said it was more dangerous than the desert war!
He died in 1984, told me he was Royal Engineer which I’ve since found out is a load of rubbish, he never spoke much about his service, didn’t even collect his medals. My wife did this for me in 2016 and I’ve since got his war record and he was front line active service.
I'd love to find out more about anything they know about the regiment or service during the war in the desert.
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Cpl. Frederick Driver MiD. 242 Coy. Royal Army Service Corps  Frederick Driver was one of three brothers who went to war.
Fred served in Egypt, Palestine, North Africa and Italy and played a full part in all battles endured during his service in WWII.
At first he was in 73 Coy, RASC and then transferred to 242 Coy.
He was on the front line in all these campaigns from Egypt up to and including Italy - where, after defeating the enemy, he managed a Prisoner of War Camp where he stayed until the end of the war.
Whilst in Italy he befriended an Italian family who were starving and gave them left over rations from the camp, which made him very popular! Fred was also on Mt Vesuvius during the campaign near Naples but they were ordered off it when it erupted!
He told me lots about his time during the war, which was amazing when I come to look about the danger he was in throughout WWII.
He returned home to Salford and never went abroad again, staying single and looking after his Mother. He worked in a timber yard at Salford Docks until his retirement. He died in August 2010.
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LAC. Clifford "Tich" Williams Clifford Williams served from 14th of January 1941 to 5th of October 1946, then as a reserve until 1959. Active service tours include Egypt, Lybia, Italy and Palestine as an RAF Armourer supporting the 8th Army.
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Pte. Hodgson Wilson "Bill " Alker 6th Btn. C Coy. Durham Light Infantry  Hodgson Alker was born in April 1919 at Willington, Co Durham. He enlisted in the Durham Light Infantry on the 15th of November 1939 and was posted to No 3 Infantry Holding Battalion
He arrived in France on 13th of March 1940 on the SS Ulster and was
posted to C Company, 6th Battalion, DLI on the 18th in Belgium, at Smeerchebbev Loersegem. He saw action in Northern France at Arras, Vimy Ridge and Beaurins in the Battle of Arras 1940. Made it back to
Dunkirk and was evacuated at 20:00 hrs on 1st of June 1940 on a Minesweeper from the Mole. He was then deployed on the south coast defences at Cullompton.
He embarked from Scotland on 23rd of May 1941 on the SS Duchess of Windsor, Canadian Pacific Line. On 27th of May all convoy escorts disappeared as they were hunting the Bismark. He disembarked in Egypt on 10th of July 1941 having sailed via South Africa, Aden and Port Suez. 6th DLI embarked for Cyprus on 27th of July 1941 on the Destroyer HMS Kimberley, Kokinni Trimithea.
They moved to Palestine 3rd of November 1941, on HMS Nizam, Napier and Jackel and entered Iraq on the 14th, being based at EskiKellek, Kirkuk and Habbaniya before leaving for Egypt on 13th of February 1942.
They were engaged in the North Africa Campaign at Gazala, Mersa Matruth, El Alamein, Mareth, Wadi Akarit, Enfidaville, Canal Zone. The Battalion then embarked for the Invasion of Sicily on 29th of June 1943 on the Winchester Castle and landed at 3:00 am 10th of July 1943 at Avola Floridia, moving through Solarino, Primosole Bridge, Catina, Alterella to Riposto. Bill embarked for the UK on 16th of October 1943 on the Sibajak and arrived 3rd of November 1943 to take his first leave for two and half years. The battalion were based at Shudy Camp near Thetford, while training for Normandy. The embarked for France on 3rd of June 1944 at Southampton on HMS Albrighton and landed in King Green Sector on Gold Beach, Normandy at 11:00 am on D Day near Ver sur Mer. They then saw action the the
Battle of Normandy at Conde s Seulles, Tilly Seulles, Villers Bocage, Auny, Mont Pincon, La Cannardiere, Conde s Noireau St Honorine la Chardonne until they were pulled out for rest on 18th of August 1944. At the end of the month they joined The Pursuit to Brussels through Nerrin, Gondecourt, Seclin, Vendeville, Tournai, Bizencourt, Ninove, Shepdaal to Brussels. They were in action in the The Battle for Gheel in September 1944 during the push into Holland, protecting the right flank at Eindhoven on the 16th, and on through Breugel, Lieshout, Beeken Donk, Uden,Grave, Nijmegen, Haalderen.
6th DLI returned to England in December 1944
The Battalion was disbanded and the men who had survived all of the campaigns from the beginning of the war were sent back to England to train others for active service. The remaining men were sent to join other regiments.
He was posted to Skipton Camp in Yorkshire and was training new recruits when he met his first wife Edith Child.
1946-12-16 The camp closed on 16th of December 1946 and Bill was released to the reserve the following day. He returned to coal mining in 1946/7 first in Lancashire then back in Willington Co Durham.
Hodgson never talked about war to his family and only in later life visited France with the Legion. He dies in 1992.
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Tpr. Adam Jamieson Cairns Royal Scots Greys Adam Cairns enlisted into 52nd (Lowland) Divisional Royal Army Service Corps Territorial Army on 14th of April 1936.
He was posted to Anti-Aircraft on 1st November 1938 and discharged from Territorial Army on 16th of January 1939 having enlisted into the Regular Army as a Trooper of the Calvary of the Line.
He was posted to Palestine with The Royal Scots Greys.
on 28th September 1939 he was posted to 7th Dragoon Guards, Royal Armoured Corps. He transferred to Royal Armoured Corps and posted to British Forces Greece on 28th of February 1941.
Adam was captured on 28th of April 1941 and sent to POW camp in Corinthia, Greece, then transferred to Stalag XVIIIB on 28th of July 1941.
He was then transferred to Stalag XVIIIA and was sent to various work camps until 1945 when he was liberated.
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Cpl. George Humphreys Bennett My dad, GeorgeBennett, joined the Royal Marines at Portsmouth aged 25 on 15th Feb 1940, as a volunteer ‘for the period of the present emergency’.
Dad's service record is extremely sketchy due, I assume, to the exigencies of war.
His record notes a wound to his right leg received in action in May 1941 and a period of hospitalisation from 27tg of October 1942 to 12th of January 1943. He was discharged from service aged 29 on 7th of April 1944 as Physically Unfit for Royal Marine Service.
During his wartime service, dad took part in operations at Crete sometime between 10th of March 1941 and 31st of May 1941 for which he received the 1939/43 Star. He also served in the Middle East and Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
As a child I recall trying on numerous occasions to coax dad, mostly unsuccessfully, to tell me about his wartime experiences.
All I ever learned was that he was wounded on Crete, after being strafed from the air which was during the fighting that ensued from the German parachute invasion of the island. He was subsequently evacuated from Souda Bay.
I have a couple of photographs of dad in Ceylon and a small album of photos of him in Palestine with members of his unit. I was told by a relative recently that he thought dad had also served in the Western desert during the war, however there doesn't appear to be any evidence of his active service there in his record. He passed away in Plymouth in 1990 aged 75.
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Cpl. Robert Imperato 1st Btn. Welsh Regiment Robert Imperato enlisted into the 1st Battalion Welsh Regiment. He served in Palestine and Egypt until 1940. He then joined 50th ME Commando.
He was reported missing in action on the 1st of June 1941 on Crete. He had been injured in action and taken prisoner.
He spent the rest of the war in Stalag V111B/344.
He was involved in the long march.
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Lt. Ferdinand Peter Jordan Northumberland Fusiliers Peter Jordan was my father. He was Company Sergeant Major, North Somerset Yeomanry when war broke out and was embarked to Palestine. His company was disbanded in 1940 and he went to OCTU in Egypt.
Once Commissioned he joined the Reconnaissance Corps and was captured in the Western Desert in 1942. Initially, he was a POW in a converted hospital in North Italy (see Eric Newby 'Love and War in the Apennines'). After the mass breakout in September 1943 he was recaptured near the Italian Front and sent to Oflag 79 in Germany. He was discharged from Catterick Camp in 1945.
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Pte. Charles Vernon Blackburn 1st Btn. Bedford and Hertford Regiment Charles Blackburn served in Palestine, Crete and Burma.
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