206223 L/Sigmn. Arthur Edward Smith British Army Royal Corps of Signals My father Arthur Edward Smith was called up in October 1940 and because of his expert knowledge in morse code and telegraphy (he was a telegraph officer for the Post Office) he was sent to join the 4th British Division, Royal Corps of Signals as a Lance Signalman. He trained in Catterick, Winchester and Scarborough. From 1940-1946 he saw service in North Africa, Tunisia, Egypt, Italy and Greece. He also fought at the Battle of Monte Casino. He and his wife had codes organised between them which they used in letters. If he wrote "are the potatoes nearly ready" it meant "we are on the move and I may not be able to write for a while." If he said " I hope you have planted the beans" it meant that a big push was being planned. As he worked out of the back of a lorry just behind the front line, he sent all the important messages to and from the commanders. He told me that, in Greece, the local population had been so starved by the Germans and their fields laid to waste that the British soldiers tried to give a lot of their supplies to the women for their children.
Arthur hardly ever spoke about the war on his return in December 1945 other than these few facts. Also he never wanted to leave England again - and never did. He died in March 1991 in Ely, Cambridgeshire aged 81.
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