Sgt. Charles William Fells MiD.
British Army 30 Corps Royal Signals
from:Mansfield
My father, Charles Fells, was a sergeant in the Royal Signals. As with all old soldiers at that time, the information he imparted in his life time was, to say the least, sketchy. Most of what I gleaned was from my mother.
He was with 30 Corps in the 8th Army and served time in Palestine before taking part in the desert campaign in North Africa, including the 2nd Battle of El Alamein October 1942. Then it was onward to Tunisia and from there to the Sicily Landings, before he came back to England to prepare for the D-Day invasion of Europe. He landed on Gold Beach on the 6th day. Then he was involved in the battle for Caen and Operation Bluecoat. At the Falaise Gap he told me that he had never seen so many dead horses in one place. After this, it was on to Nijmegen and the crossing of the Rhine.
His name was cited in the London Gazette in March 1944, being Mentioned in Dispatches. I never knew for what this honour was bestowed. My father died at his home in December 1997.
