246792 Mjr. Derrick Ley-Wilson British Army Durham Light Infantry from:Crockham Hill, Kent My father, Derrick Ley-Wilson who was always reluctant to recount his experiences of wartime service with the DLI, he used to say he'd had enough of seeing comrades blown up, shot or badly wounded. The following information is my recollection of his and his wife's (my mother's) accounts, with many gaps.
My father volunteered and joined the Bentley Brigade"at Caterham Barracks in Surrey for basic training. He gained Corporal's stripes but was demoted to Private for disobeying orders not to attend my christening in November 1939. This seems to have been forgiven for he went on for further training (Officer training) in Devon.
He was posted at first to Palestine whence he recounted having saved people from demolished (bombed or shelled) buildings, thanks to the skills and courage of former miners in his command. He was moved on to Egypt of where he talked of guarding the pyramids for a couple of months but this may have been his little joke.
There followed assignment to the North African campaign including El Alamein, at some time in the front line, he described how to minimise exposure under enemy verey lights. He was assigned to operations on Bren Gun Carriers, often behind enemy lines. During his time in North Africa he was left for dead twice but rescued on one occasion by his batman; I don't know details of the other occasion. The daily water ration was a pint a day a quart if you were lucky, he said, the swarms of flies were an abominable nuisance much of the time.
After service in North Africa he went up through Sicily and Italy until the end of hostilities. He was among those away for over four years.
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