John Leslie Harris
British Army Royal Corp of Signals
from:Guiting, Glos.
My now deceased father, John Harris, dictated his memoirs to me in 2004 and which I have made into a booklet for my family. This memoir is titled Diary of a 'D Day' Soldier.
This memoir states that following regular training when he was conscripted in to the British Army on the 12th February 1942, he and a small number of selected soldiers travelled to Hevant to undertake an Advanced Training Course. This was situated near Arundel Castle in Sussex. At the completion of this training he travelled by train from Sussex to Catterick.
On the 7th July 1942 he joined The Royal Corps of Signals and completed full training as a Despatch Rider, which lasted about 12 weeks. My father, at the completion of this training then journeyed to Stockton in Yorkshire where he and other soldiers lived under canvas, until October 1942. His next journey was north to Glasgow, boarding ship for overseas duty. This ship in non war time, was called the Empress of Scotland. He detailed his overseas duties in his memoir and then at the end of duty reported he was again billeted at the Catterick Air Base in 1945 whilst awaiting his demob from the British Army. So he came full circle.
Whist at Catterick in 1946 he met my mother Joan Grainger at a dance organised for the soldiers and which local young women were invited. They married in 1948 at Christ Church, High Harrogate in Yorkshire. They commenced their married life in Cheltenham, Glos until 1958 when our family emigrated to Sydney, New South Wales in Australia. He built our family home (from bricks he made himself) in Smithfield.
Here my parents remained until 2005 when they relocated to Bellbowrie, Qld to be nearer family. 2010 saw my parents move to an aged care facilty at 139 Gold Creek Road, Brookfield, Qld which was close by. Dad died at this facility on the 8th May 2014 and Mum later passed away here in March 2015. The end of a generation and a gallant D Day Soldier!
