Interesting Stories and Notes


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Richard Alfred Joseph Burgar and his war

Richard (Uncle Dick to me the author) told me some of his war time exploits.  He was a believer in fairness, and standing on your own feet.  Probably this was the result of his father dying when he was 4 years old.  He was also very impetuous and somewhat hot tempered.   Below is some of the stories he told me about his war time escapades.

Once when I was drinking in the Privates Mess, a sergeant came in and I and several mates told him to go to the Sergeants Mess. He seemed reluctant so we bundled him out of the door. When he tried to get back in I squashed his arm in the door until he agreed he wouldn't come back. He did and I threw a punch and laid him out. The Commanding Officer was very nice about it but said he had no option other than to give me 14 days solitary on bread and water. After the fourteen days, about a dozen of us from the glass-house were told that we had been volunteered for an overseas mission, and were to report to the docks at Dover.

We were joined at Dover by about 400 men from 2 other units, all of whom were well equipped with clothing and weapons, whereas we had only basic equipment. We embarked on board ship and were landed on the coast of German occupied Norway where we were to harass the German forces. The plan was that we were to start at the south of Norway and work our way northwards as the Germans pursued us. My small group were looked upon as the disposable rear guard. After about 3 months we were lifted off the northern coast of Norway and shipped back to Scotland.

At the camp no one seemed to know who we were or how we happened to be there. The other two units with their commanding officers were re-equipped with new boots and clothing but none came our way. Consequently, when we were ordered to parade, I told the drill sergeant that we were not doing anything until we had fresh equipment. Eventually, the Commanding Officer, came to see us and agreed that we needed new gear , gave it to us and everything calmed down. Eventually we returned to our own Regiment.

Sometime later, I and two mates decided to go home for the week-end. We borrowed an army bike and side car and set off for London. Eventually we were stopped by some Military Police who were looking for soldiers ( us ) from our Regiment who had been reported missing. We told them that we had been sent out to find the missing soldiers, but after about an hour, the game was up, and we were in trouble again.

After the invasion of Europe, I was in Holland, promoted to Sergeant by this time. Another Unit approached our officer and said that they were to make their way to the river to take up positions there. Since I was thought to be the person with the most knowledge and experience, I, and a young lad were asked to guide them there. We led the group silently through some woods into a large open expanse, with a lane down the centre. Down the lane past a large haystack, into more woods and down to the river where we left them to dig in. Then I and the young lad made our way back. When we reached the open expanse, the lad said he did not like the look of the haystack. We considered striking out through the woods to avoid it but eventually decided to go back the quick way. As we drew level with the stack we were jumped by a dozen Germans and taken prisoner. We were led to the river and made to row them and us across to the other side. From a pill-box we were able to see through the slit to the other side of the river. There was the unit that we had just left.

Eventually, as the Allied forces advanced into Germany, the Germans retreated and the POW were force marched through Germany.  Food was scarce and we did not get much other than what we could scavenge. Dysentery and other diseases broke out as we were marched this way and that to avoid the advancing Allies. We were all in a very poor state when we were liberated.
 

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