Early years

Frederick was born in Lowestoft on 28th of September 1920.

His father was a WW1 Veteran and his mother had lost her first husband during WW1 so, being my Grandfather’s first born, Frederick had a step-brother and sister, and later three more sisters and two more brothers.

Frederick spent his early years enjoying fishing and cycling, and his first employment was in a butcher’s shop working as a cutter (which helped him get used to the sights and smells he would encounter in Normandy).

Frederick also had a huge interest in books, especially aviation, but his book collection was ruined when a German incendiary bomb dropped through the roof of their home.

Military Service

Frederick tried to join the RAF but his mother tore up the papers. However, by February 1941, Frederick knew it was only time before he was called up so he went to Norwich and enlisted into the Royal Engineers.

After his training he was sent to Exmoor to the 88th Chemical Warfare Company  (It was thought that Hitler might use gas and we needed to prepare for any eventuality) where he met his lifetime pal, Gilbert Thompson.

Frederick’s first job was to lay on a large sheet of white card wearing his gas mask with a man with a clipboard near his, feet taking notes. Using WW1 equipment, firing rockets with gas across the moor, another man would remove Frederick’s mask until he and the other gentleman were satisfied - and taken notes. Frederick’s gas mask was replaced and they would measure and count the dots on the card, trying to work out the effects of the gas. These experiments were handed over to the RAF as it would have been better to drop the gas from the air but fortunately, Hitler didn’t use gas (which could have been because of his personal experiences during WW1).

*During Frederick’s service on Exmoor he met a young lady Winifred Arabella Baker from Gisleham but a few weeks later she was killed by a German bomb during the infamous Waller's Raid on Lowestoft.

Their unit was then moved to Christchurch on the South Coast where they were billeted in wooden huts without flooring and stood upon the pebbles. They worked with Donald Bailey and the Christchurch Experimental Bridging Establishment where they experimented with suspension bridges. One of the the bridges started to collapse with Frederick near the top but he quickly made it to the ground as steel started to fall and a gentleman, Stanley Harding, from Manchester broke his leg. Frederick managed to get him to safety just before it collapsed.

*Frederick was mentioned in dispatches for his efforts but the rest of the boys weren’t so happy as they had a lot of spit and polishing to get ready for the presentation in Eastbourne weeks later.

Frederick said he felt sorry for Mr Bailey when things didn’t work out with the suspension bridges.

While on the South Coast the boys also helped out with the testing of Percy Hobart’s Funnies including the Flail Tanks etc.

Before the invasion of Normandy Frederick was sent for a minor operation on a vein in his leg. While laying in hospital, an officer with a doctor were going around the wards deciding who was fit and unfit. Frederick, being fit, was put on a bus and driven to a holding compound. He didn’t like the look of what was happening and wanted to return to his mates in his unit. Thankfully, an officer walked into the compound looking around and walked straight over to Frederick asking, “ Can you drive? “

"Yes, sir" Frederick replied and the officer asked Frederick to go with him.

Frederick was driven to Brentwood where he thought there was something strange about the officer's uniform - as the colour was faded and bleached by the sun - and he had a little red rat at the top of his arm. He'd just met a famous 'Desert Rat ‘ and an officer of the 7th Armoured Division.

Frederick was issued with his equipment and, when he asked about using Blanco, was bluntly told, “ Look mate, we don’t use that shit in this outfit, throw it away you won’t need it “.

A couple of days later they were marched into Brentwood to have showers and, while marching, the boys were singing Lilly Marlene a tune which became very special for Frederick.

D-Day/Normandy

They were then taken to Purfleet where they boarded the Liberty Ship Fort Kas Kaskia and embarked June 4th, 1944. The ship moved into the Thames Estuary waiting to join the fleet and, whilst passing the White Cliffs of Dover, Frederick wondered if he would ever see them again (He did see them again in 2007 when I took him to the Netherlands to meet a family that gave him shelter in 1944).

The journey across to France was reasonably calm except for being strafed by a German aircraft and one of the men panicked and had to be calmed down.

Another memory was the smell from the ablutions and pulling up his trouser legs to wade in for a pee. Frederick also spoke about a rocket firing barge close to his ship which reminded him about his days on Exmoor.

*His actual landing date seems a little unclear as some of the division is said to have landed on June 6th but it was a bit of a mess, hence the old saying, when something doesn’t go to plan “ The Biggest Bloody Lash Up Since D-day “ (landing in Normandy was where this saying came from). From what we know, Frederick landed between June 8th and 10th.

Frederick had to climb down a net to jump onto a landing craft. There was a bit of swell and Frederick climbed down so far then waited for the landing craft to rise on the swell before making the jump - then was told to get in the back of one of the vehicles! The Biggest Invasion the world has ever known and Frederick sat in the back of a truck just a spare man without a task.

Upon landing, the truck headed towards Bayeux and stopped on the outskirts where Frederick jumped from the rear of the truck and landed on part of someone’s foot. A few feet away, two lads were being buried and Frederick thought, ‘How long before that’s me? ‘

Nearby there was a White International Half Track and the driver had put his hand through the bottom of the the windscreen and slammed the heavy armoured plate across his fingers to wound himself. An officer asked Frederick if he could drive it “ Yes, sir! “ he replied.

The Half Track was the 621st Field Squadron Royal Engineers 7th Armoured Division and one of the main duties of this crew was reconnaissance. Frederick finally had a position, and new pals.

Frederick’s first job was a reconnaissance mission where he pulled up near an old building and was told to wait with his vehicle. He wondered if he climbed up on to the low roof, he might get his first sight of the enemy. He crawled up to the ridge and just exposed his forehead for a few seconds when he heard a swishing sound as two mortars came over the roof and landed near the Half Track. When the boys returned they said, “ That will bloody learn you!“

Moving through Normandy, death and destruction was all around with constant shelling and mortar attacks. They were even fired at by a Spitfire, and Frederick had to leap over a wall into stinging nettles. (He said it was their own fault as they were supposed to wear a triangle on their back when out in front).

Dead bodies were a regular sight, both British and German, but when British soldiers laid on the ground, he said you knew you were in dangerous territory.

On one occasion he came across a meadow where it looked like over a hundred Germans had been massacred - which was something he never forgot, and would always ask other people if they knew about it once we started to return to Normandy 60 years later.

Post Normandy/Belgium

Moving into Belgium, Frederick was ordered to drive into Deinze where the Germans were causing a bit of trouble crossing the bridges over the river Lys. Those bridges had to be blown. Frederick wrote that he 'knelt at a corner close to the bridge and could hear footsteps running towards him and occasionally see a German helmet over the top of the wall. They blew one bridge but didn’t have enough explosives for the other'. Frederick said “ I thought we’d had it that time!“

It was near ‘s-Hertogenbosch which was another low point of Fred’s war when the half-track he drove had to lead an attack on the outskirts of the town.

With the armoured screen fastened down they began to move forward with some Queens Infantry behind, and a Sherman Firefly* to the side. They didn’t get very far before all hell broke loose as dreaded Air Burst shell’s rained down upon them.

With only canvas over head for protection, the boys bailed out and found foxholes (which were possibly dug by the Germans) but nowhere for Frederick to take cover. He laid close to the front wheel of the half-track. The farmhouse by the Sherman tank exploded into a blazing inferno and Frederick started to panic, calling out to his Sergeant, “I can’t stand this much longer!" The infantry had found cover but, up front, the half-track was getting into trouble. At last the sergeant said, “ Come on, that’s all, get out“ and they returned to a house close to where they started. They stayed there most of the day until things settled down and Frederick was sent to recover the half-track.

*The Half-Track started but it was difficult to steer as both front tyres were punctured and all the water and petrol cans were full of holes. The driver's door and the front differential were dented and everything else was full of shrapnel.

Frederick was becoming a little 'bomb happy' and was given a two week rest helping Jack the fitter just as pre-war Frederick would help his father repair the old trucks in our haulage business.

Frederick enjoyed helping Jack and, after his rest period, returned to the half-track. However, some of the vehicles had seen service in North Africa and were becoming tired and troublesome and Jack asked the major if Frederick could help him again. (Frederick was moved to Headquarters and given various tasks all the way to Hamburg and on to Berlin in early July 1945).

Holland

December 1944 they were in the Born Sittard area of the Netherlands very close to the German border and some Dutch families opened their homes to the British soldiers. In particular one lady who we're still in contact with today.

Operation Blackcock was another struggle - clearing the Roer Triangle before pushing into Germany. With all the waterways, the Royal Engineers were extremely busy building bridges under fire, but soon made it into Germany.

Germany

Frederick told me the boys were getting fed up and, after Liberating Bad Fallingbostel and seeing some of the sights, German prisoners received a different greeting instead of being put in the back of the half-track with a cigarette.

Entering Hamburg was a little different as people seemed glad to see them and German soldiers were surrendering in their hundreds - with the exception of a few Hitler youth who were taken for a little drive and were no more trouble.

Post War

At last the war was over and the 621st took over the Alsterhof Hotel for the night. (Frederick said there was still a few good buildings in and around Hamburg).

He was sent to a warehouse in the docks to 'liberate' a truck load of drink and slipped a bottle of Martini under his seat - which he sat and drank while writing a letter home to his parents.

A couple of days later they were sent to a little village on the bank of the River Eider where they had a little rest - with the exception of guarding a bloody Union Jack which had been hoisted up a pole.

While they were in the area they were sent to a village to collect all guns, cameras and binoculars that civilians had been ordered to hand in. It was a beautiful day and Frederick was standing by the truck when he heard the sound of marching feet. As the noise came closer, Frederick saw it was what looked like a whole battalion of SS in camouflaged uniforms carrying an amount of arms that astonished him. As they approached, Frederick showed some respect and stood to attention. The SS commander gave an order for all the soldiers to march to attention. However, some at the rear tried to make fun so Frederick gave them the two finger salute telling them to piss off, or something similar.

In Berlin, Frederick seemed to enjoy the different life as occupation service but was more weary of the Russians than the Germans and, against regulations, kept a small revolver in his pocket - and did get into some sticky situations.

Frederick thought a lot of the Major and they became good friends - which made his life in Berlin quite comfortable. Frederick would often drive the Jeep for him and the Major offered a couple of weeks leave to a rest camp in Kolding, Denmark. Upon his return, the major asked him how he got on - “ Bloody marvellous!“, Frederick replied, and the major asked if he’d like to choose a couple of men and go staff the camp - which he did.

Unfortunately this meant that he couldn’t see the girl, Rose-Marie, (who he met in Spandau and wanted to bring home to England), but life was good in Denmark and he travelled between Kolding, Flensburg and Berlin and finally came home in July 1946. *Frederick tried to bring Rose-Mari with him but it wasn’t to happen.

Home

Frederick went straight to work on his return home and got on with his life, trying to forget about the war. Someone was researching the division to write a book but Frederick wouldn’t talk to him. The historian went to my Grandfather and told Frederick he should tell him but Frederick was furious and wouldn’t talk.

He kept quiet until he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2003 and he eventually returned to Normandy in 2004 (which turned into another adventure doing school visits and being featured on the D-day anniversary posters etc from 2009 until his death in 2013 and then on the D-day 70th anniversary count down clock in Bayeux).

I learned more about my father’s war when he did school visits as he wouldn’t lie to the children. On one occasion I asked my father to tell be more about his worst experiences but he simply replied “ I was a butcher before the war and blood didn’t worry me, but I didn’t sleep well until the 1970’s and now I’ve forgotten I sleep and don’t wish to be remembered “, but the nightmares never stopped.

Rest in Peace dear Father. Andrew Wright May 2025