240419 Tpr. Peter Noel Peach British Army 2nd Btn. Northamptonshire Yeomanry from:Northampton My dad, Peter Peach, served with the 2nd Northamptonshire Yeomanry and joined after his mate told him they would teach you to drive for free if you joined this week (in 1939?) and this he did.
I have spoken to "experts" for this Yeomanry at our local records office and they tell me that this Yeomanry never went to Africa and my dad was mistaken when he told me stories of being there. I have since requested his Army records and, behold, he received the Africa Star - which I have. It now looks from his records that he was sent there with the Yorkshire Hussars, maybe as a driver, as they were perhaps short of drivers. His stories to me were of a tank radio op and a driver for the Desert Rats raiding parties.
All records show he disembarked in Cyprus 1942. Because the records are sketchy, I can't find what he did with the Hussars or what his war experiences were with them. He told stories of Eygypt, Arab sellers of cigs and leaving Italy to return to England with the Desert Rat regiment - a six-week ordeal according to him - when they ran out of fresh water after a short while.
He went on to Europe with the Scots Guards - we think going through Belgium to Berlin - and we were told the 2nd Northamptonshires were the first tanks across the Rhine, but it is all sketchy and difficult to find more now he has passed. As kids we never thought to ask him about his war experiences which we all now regret. Perhaps one day we will find out more and we will give a clearer picture to these unsung heroes from Yeomanry who were attached to great regiments but whose records of their war stories have been lost inside them and it's now too late for anyone to remember them.
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