William Victor Horace Mintram
British Army 7th Btn Royal East Kent Regiment
from:Southampton, Hampshire
Bill Mintram served with the Hampshire Regiment for basic training when he was called up in December 1939. In January 1942 he transferred to the 8th Battalion, Essex Regiment a Churchill tank unit, which became 153rd Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps. He stayed with the Essex Tankies right through to D-Day, crossing the Channel on an American Landing Ship shortly after the beaches were secured. On the eve of sailing, he learnt that his brother, Roy, was nearby, so he managed to meet up with him, little knowing that he would meet him three times more in France and Belgium in bizarre circumstances. Once when he was fetching water from a farmhouse, again when he was reconnoitering a safe route for the Regiment through a heavily bombed town and finally at the Montgomery Club in Brussels.
He served in Churchill Tanks in France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. He was transferred to the 7th Battalion of the Royal East Kent Regiment where he operated the Churchill MkVII. He commanded his tank right through to VE Day and recounted one of his last tasks as burning down the Typhus huts at Belsen Concentration Camp. He was released from service 9th of April 1946.
The attached photo is of Bill Mintram and his crew next to their Churchill Mk VII I believe. Any assistance identifying the full tank number would be appreciated.
