226321 Spr. Percy John "M.V. Brown" Wraight MiD.British Army 1st Field Squadron Royal Engineers from:Kemsing, Kent My father, Percy Wraight, joined the Royal West Kent Regiment underage and was hunted down by his mother, God Bless her, and returned home but turned around and enlisted under his nephew's name Michael Victor Brown in the Royal Engineers.
After training he was posted to Iceland but after the Americans took over he was posted to the western dessert with 1 Field Squadron and was involved in the back and forth battles with Rommel's North Africa Corps.
He was involved in several battles, Gazda, Mersah Matruh, Tobruk, apparently a very fluid time with both gains and losses for the Allies.
He was captured and escaped by virtue of being released by Romels troops for lack of water, severely wounded, actually died and resuscitated according to my mother and returned to England and hospitalized for 2 years.
My father did tell me that he remembers stumbling through the dessert with others and recycling their urine in order to stay alive. Pretty grim but he retained an absolutely marvelous sense of humour, he very seldom removed his shirt because front and back were covered with shrapnel wounds.
Dad lived a good full life and died in Comox B.C. in 2004.
Interesting to note is that I have his service record book and his entire war record is under Michael Victor Brown with at the end of war the name penned out and Percy John Wraight written above it.
I recently found dad's record online in WO417/47 and it is still under M.V. Brown. it shows him missing in action then corrected under casualty #893 incident date 4 Aug 1942 Cyrenaica.
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