P/O John Barry Cleaver . Royal Canadian Air Force w/op 419 Sqd. (d.15th Aug 1944)
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Pte. John Cleaver . British Army 8th Btn. Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders from Ardrishaig, Argyll (d.20th April 1941)
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Reginald Cleaver . Royal Air Force flight eng. 419 Sqd. When the war began in 1939, I was an apprentice toolmaker at Armstrong Siddeley Motors in Coventry. My name is Reg Cleaver and I was 17 years old. I joined the Air Raid Precautions system and became an ambulance driver attached to No 3 First Aid Post in Livingstone Rd. The building had been the swimming baths. One pool was still open for swimming the other pool had been boarded over and became a reception centre for people injured in the air raids. After work at ASM, I spent most of my time waiting for the call to pick up the next load of dead and injured people from where the bombs had landed. This became very difficult at times as whole buildings were spread all over the roads, enormous bomb craters blocked roads with destroyed buses and trams everywhere. We could be driving along with whole rows of burning buildings each side. The ambulances had canvas sides and at times got badly scorched.
In November 1940, a large bomb exploded in the swimming pool next door destroying the whole building and drenching all of us and the seriously injured people in what had been our First Aid Post. Outside, several of our ambulances had been badly damaged. My own vehicle had been flattened by a huge steel roof truss that had landed on it.
Next morning being very concerned what may have happened to my home and parents, I arrived home: 159 Churchill Ave, Foleshill. My mother kept a small general store opposite to the Riley Motor Works. Fortunately, my parents escaped injury being in the air raid shelter. The house roof had gone and the shop destroyed. A very sad sight - all the stock and provisions, etc all over the pavement and road and mother very shocked.
This became a turning point in my life. A burning hatred of Germans and a determination to hit back. As an apprentice we were considered to be in a reserved occupation and could not be called up into the Forces. The only way into the R.A.F. was to volunteer for air crew. I joined the R.A.F. in early 1941 as a pilot. Strange as it may seem the R.A.F. told me they didn’t need pilots. As I had been an apprentice engineer, I should train as a flight mechanic and engine fitter and transfer to a pilots’ course which I did. The rest of 1941, I was on a Spitfire squadron servicing Merlin engines, etc. I was still awaiting a pilots’ course but was overtaken by events. In 1942, four engine bombers began to arrive in the R.A.F. These needed flight engineers in the crew desperately. Notices on squadron notice boards appeared, asking for skilled ground engineers to volunteer for flight engineer aircrew. After a very short course of a week or two at St Athan in Wales and four or five weeks at English Electric Speke crawling all over Halifax bombers learning all the systems etc. I then found myself as a Sergeant Flight engineer with a crew flying Halifax on an Operational Training Unit, 1659 Heavy Conversion Unit at Topcliffe Yorkshire, becoming second pilot.
From there I was posted to the Royal Canadian Air Force, 419 Squadron at Middleton St George, Durham. From there with an all Canadian crew, I flew a number of bombing operations against German cities during this time, we had some desperate times. On the night of 24-25th June 1943, during an attack on Wuppertal in the Ruhr Valley, nemesis caught up with us. We were attacked by 3 Focke Wulf 190 night fighters and shot down in flames and the aircraft falling to pieces around us in a dive. With the aircraft still in flames, the pilot recovered some control near the ground and we crashed through some trees. This removed the wings and fuel tanks and the fire. The fuselage hit the ground and miraculously we fell out.
This part of my life is a long story which I cannot include now. The rest of the war until April 1945, I suffered as a prisoner of war in various prison and concentration camps.
After liberation and hospital treatment I was flown back to England. After such an upheaval in my life I found it very difficult to settle down to a more normal type of life. In 1948, I found my soulmate and married Betty. I went back to Armstrong Siddeley Motors and helped found the rocket research department in a very interesting and rewarding job. We are still married after 57 years. I consider myself extremely lucky to survive the war as 50% of the Bomber Command aircrew were killed. I think people today would find it difficult to understand what a strange life we aircrew led in those days. In the afternoon we could be at a dance or cinema with girlfriends. That night we could be over Germany with everyone trying to kill us. If we got back the same cycle could be repeated weeks on end. It now seems very unreal.
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Rfmn. Stanley Cleaver . British Army 1st Btn. Kings Royal Rifle Corps from London Stanley Cleaver, joined the 1st Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps. Stanley was reported missing on 22nd of November 1941. He was held at Campo 65, then Campo 70 at Monturano, Fermo. He escaped on 10th of September 1943 and was later interviewed in Switzerland.
His responses are recorded in the MI9 reports on escapers and evaders through enemy lines in Italy 1943-1944, held in the National Archives.
My wife and I lived in London in the late 1960s in the same flat as my mother's sister and her husband, Stan Cleaver. In 1969 we went on a camping holiday with Stan and my aunt to Italy, (we knew nothing then of his wartime experiences).
My wife was taken ill in the north of Italy, and this delay prevented us travelling any further south, which is where Stan wanted to go. We found out much later that he wanted to see the POW camps he was held at.
Stan died in 1975, never mentioning anything of his war service to us.
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Rflmn. Stanley Cleaver . British Army 1st Btn. Kings Royal Rifle Corps from London My uncle Stan Cleaver was captured at Sidi Rezegh on 22nd of November 1941. He was sent to Italy as a prisoner of war and escaped on 10th of September 1943 by bribing the sentry with two bars of soap. He went through the wire and headed towards the Allied lines. He was in civilian clothes, and at Lentella he was made to dig slit trenches for the Germans with other civilians. This was in the German front line near the River Trigno. He crossed the river on the night of November 1st and made his way to the British lines at Montenero to meet the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. Just in time apparently to be inspected by General Montgomery!
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Pte. William Fred Cleaver . British Army
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Pte. Leonard Kitchener Cleaves . British Army 4th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry from Bath Dad, Leonard Cleaves was wounded twice,19th of August 1944 in North West Europe and 18th of April 1945 in Western Europe. The second time I was told he and others were pinned down in an orchard by a sniper. I remember the huge scar he showed me on his arm.
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Cpl. Leon Adam Cleboski . United States Marine Corps 4th U.S. Marine Regiment from Houston, Texas
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LAC George "Ginge" Clegg . Royal Air Force Attached to PRU wing, Benson from Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire I had become hooked on flying as a cadet in the Manchester University Air Squadron in 1942. I enlisted in the RAFVR while aged 17 and was on deferred service until I attained 18. One of my early moves was to RAF Benson, the Photo Recce Unit (PRU) HQ, commanded by Air Commodore John N Boothman, who had won the Schneider trophy for Britain before the war. I was always trying to commence flying, but this was an operational unit with Spitfires and Mosquitos, so the opportunities were few. After just missing a test flight in a Mosquito during which the pilot and observer were killed, my next opportunity was a trip in a Lockheed Hudson with the C.O., AC Boothman. I guess my eagerness persuaded him to take me. It turned out to be a recce off the Dutch coast to locate shore batteries. These were mapped by the 2nd pilot and located by drawing fire. We were perhaps a mile off shore. The CO would do a steep turn (about 50 feet above the waves) to throw of the predicted next shot from the batteries. It was all very exciting. After about 30 minutes and having covered 100 miles of coast, without being hit, we returned to base. My next near meeting with John Boothman, now an AVM, was at Manston, Kent the wartime FIDO station. While landing a Spitfire across the runway, the Fido pipe caused the nose to go down enough for the prop to hit the ground. The props on Spits were wooden, covered by a black coating, and shattered easily so that no damage to the engine occurred. After flying finished that evening I walked out to the site of my inadvertent accident. To my surprise I found the remains of two shattered props. I learned that AVM Boothman was the the pilot of the other Spitfire, having landed later than I.
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Sgt. Norris Clegg MM.. British Army from Stoneclough
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Sgt. Norris Clegg MM.. British Army 6th Batallion Royal Scots Fusiliers from Ringley, Bolton Norris Clegg joined 2nd/5th Lancashire Fusiliers (a territorial regiment) at the Lancashire Fusiliers depot in Bury, Lancashire in March 1940. He served in Northern England and Ireland (Counties Armagh and Down)until 1944 when he shipped with the regiment to Normandy where he landed a on D-Day plus 4.
He was involved in the Battle for Caen and in August 1944 his A Company was transferred to 6th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers as A Company. After further fighting across France and Belgium he was involved in the Battle of Blerick in Holland. In the battle he was injured and was ultimately recognised for his bravery during the battle by the award of the Military Medal.
After further action including night assault in Reichswald Forest near the Siegfried Line, he ended up in Lubeck where Field Marshal Montgomery awarded him the Military Medal. He was de-mobbed in Lubeck and return to Blighty in February 1946.
I am a nephew of Norris Clegg, he was married to one of the sister's of my mother.
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A/Able.Sea. Robert Edgar Clegg . Royal Navy HMS Glendower from Shildon, Durham I have a long list of ships that my father, Robert Clegg served on as a gunner during WW2. He trained in HMS Glendower to 3rd of August 1942.
All the ships he served on were only for a short duration- convoys I believe but I would love to find out more.
SS Empire Bronze;
- SS Tobruk;
- HMS Cochrane;
- SS Lakeland;
- SS Marlwood;
- SS Zeeland;
- SS Omega;
- SS Scythia;
- SS New Crombia;
- SS Queen Mary;
- SS Samviana;
- HMCS Stadacona;
There must be many who were in the same position.
He survived the war, married and lived in Uley, Gloucestershire
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TB Cleghorn . British Army Royal Armoured Corps TB Cleghorn served with the Royal Armoured Corps British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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Sgt. Alexander Walter Cleland . British Army 1st Btn. Gordon Highlanders from Elm Park, Essex Alex Cleland was born at 22 Eve Road, Plaistow, East Ham, Essex. He went to the Napier Road School, and left at the age of 14. He joined the Army Territorials, before joining the Gordon Highlanders, he signed on for 7 years on the 23rd of Aug 1928.
He served in India and Palatine leaving the Army in 1936. He joined the British Post Office but was returned to the Army for the 2nd World War on the 2nd of September 1939 and was promoted to Sargent. He was captured during the British retreat at Dunkirk on the 12th of Jun 1940 and was a POW until 19th of Apr 1945 in Stalag XXA Thorn, Poland and Stalag XXB Marienburg, East Prussia.
He spent time in hospital and recuperating at Hatfield House, and was discharged on the 13th of Nov 1945.
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WO. James Watson "Jock" Clelland . Royal Air Force My Dad, James Clelland, joined RAF in 1921 at Manston, I know he served on HMS Glorious. He also served at Shawbury, South Africa (Shalufa) Cranwell, Waddington, Binbrook, Watton and was discharged in 1955. I have a very rough, difficult to read record, his original service record I cannot find. He came from Hutchesentown in Glasgow hence his nickname (Jock). According to this record he received five good conduct badges. LS & GCM in 1941 (don't know which medal this is) Defence medal don't know the year. He lived in Lincoln all of his life when not serving but this is all I know. I have been to Duxford and seen the types of planes he worked on.
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F/Sgt. C. Clement . Royal Australian Air Force 97 Squadron
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FE Clement . British Army Royal Fusiliers FE Clement served with the Royal Fusiliers British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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TH Clement . British Army Royal Armoured Corps TH Clement served with the Royal Armoured Corps British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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Sgt. WG Clement . British Army Royal Tank Regiment Sgt.WG Clement served with the Royal Tank Regiment British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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Sgt. William John Clement . British Army 3rd Battalion Welsh Guards from 7a High Street, Wootton Bridge My cousin, daughter of William John Clement who married Doris Jessie Cook at Hendon London in first quarter of 1946 after demob. My Uncle Bill, born in Swansea and having army rank of sergeantt was well over 6 feet with a strong Welsh accent. He had fought with the Welsh Guards in Italy Monte Casino etc. He had a broken finger on one hand where it was run over by a Bren Gun carrier light tank in Italy. He was very proud to have been in the Welsh Guards.
We have a group photo of him in his Regiment at what I might shakily surmise was taken at Beaver Camp in Hounslow 1941 during formation of 4th Battalion but as there isn't wording on photo this is conjecture. We have no paperwork on his service record and my cousin who wishes to find out about her father's time in the army has come up against the 75 year ruling so cannot have access yet. We understand that as a next of kin she can apply to MOD for special access to her father's service record.
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Sto II Albert Edward Clements . Royal Navy
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Private Edward Henry Clements . British Army Edward Henry Clements was with the demolition party in Arnhem, Holland
and was one of the few survivors of Operation Market Garden. He escaped from a POW camp and was shot in the leg. I am looking for information on which POW camp he was at and also what medals he received. I am his son and would like to get the well-deserved medals back in the Clements family. My father lost his records and medals. My hero father served in North Africa, Italy, and Holland.
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FS Clements . British Army Royal Warwickshire Regiment FS Clements served with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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Pte. George Daniel Clements . British Army 8th Battalion Durham Light Infantry from Harefield Middx (d.2nd Apr 1943) Danny Clements was the son of John Henry Clements and Harriet Jane Field. JOhn & Harriet were originally from Bethnal Green, but moved their young family to Harefield in Middlesex in the 1900s. Danny was my Great Uncle, one of his brothers was my maternal Grandad (Henry Francis Clements). Danny is buried in Alexandria, Harda War cemetery AL Iskandariya in Egypt, North Africa. We named our son after Danny.
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Sgt. James Douglas Clements . Royal Air Force WOP/AG 12 Sqd. from Cambridge My Dad, James Clements was a Wireless Operator Air Gunner and since my Dad's death in 2006 I have taken great interest in his service life. Binbrook is one of the airfields he often mentioned. I regret that I was not able to learn more about his service life while he was here but wonder how much he would have been comfortable with telling me.
This website has helped me hugely in piecing together where to start and how to find out more including journeys to Lincolnshire that have enabled me to understand the way it was. A recent visit to East Kirkby where some 12 Sqn memorabilia is held was very special for me and I can recommend a trip to this museum for any others who are undertaking such a trip down their own or their loved one's memory lane.
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Sgt Jim Clements . RAF 12sqd
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Reginald Clements . from Shrewsbury My Dad, Reg Clements, who is now 82 would love to hear from anybody who served with him on HMS Hargood. He would also like info on the victory parade in Edinburgh in August or September 1945 or 46, when the King and Queen were there with their two daughters.
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Pte. Ronald Clements . British Army 4th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment from Nottingham (d.7th October 1941) Ronald Clements was killed in action and is buried in Leopoldsburg British Cemetery at Limburg in Belgium. He was killed on my third birthday. We visited his grave on 5th of November 2019. We are from Nottingham.
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Pfc. W. T. Clements . United States Army A Btry. 200th C.A.C
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