239810 Sgt. George Frederick Ryles British Army 224 Coy. Royal Army Service Corps I have a copy of the story of 224 Inf. Brig. Coy RASC 'A Moving Story' detailing their movements from June 1944 to May 1945. My dad, Sgt. George Ryles, is not actually mentioned in the story, apart from a note he made in the margin about him being involved in some mine clearing.
He did tell us about his training, in Scarborough, I think, when they had to learn how to drive the lorries from the landing craft through the water up onto the beach. During the training a number of soldiers were drowned when their lorries sank, and this annoyed him a lot because when they reached Normandy they waited for the tide to go out and drove straight on to the beaches without getting wet!
Another story he told us was about the time he had to look after some German officers who had surrendered until they could passed 'back down the line'. He said that they slept overnight on a barge, and he slept with their guns under his pillow just in case they tried to escape!
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