Gnr. William Henry Redgrift
British Army 420th Bty. 1st Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery
from:Grimsby
William Henry Redgrift was my granddad. He served with 420th Battery of the 1st HAA Regiment RA. In Bristol, he was awarded 7 days Confined to Barracks and forfeited 1 day's pay for going AWOL from 23.39hrs on 5/11/42 to 21.45hrs on 7/11/42 (he said he had been drinking with others from his group). On 15/8/43, he and the 1st HAA embarked for Sicily; they disembarked on 27/8/43. On 10/4/44, he was classified lep 1A A0 14/43 (this is on his service record, but I don't know what it means). On 22/2/45, he was posted to X(4) RATD. On 18/3/45, he was awarded 7 days C B and forfeited 1 day’s pay by RW for AWOL 12hrs 25mins (he was drunk again with his mates). On 7/4/45, he was transferred to RA (field) X(4) (A) RATD. On 20/6/45, he embarked for the UK. On 7/10/45, he was awarded the 1939-1945 Star and the Italy Star.
Despite my grandmother’s protestations, he then signed up for another 1 year. He was posted to Draft RAJPN, then re-posted to X(4) list, and proceeded to 50 Res J D regiment Randio. His last posting was to the 160th Field Regiment RA on 14/5/46. On 28/6/46, he embarked for the UK again. My granddad never spoke about the war to his children, but for some reason he opened up to me and told me what he did and the guns he worked on and where in the world he went, Italy at Mt. Cassino, India, etc.
