PoW – Philip Hamlyn Williams

Tag: PoW

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February 8, 2020 — 0 Comments

Dickie Richards – a human cyclone

Dickie Richards was larger than life. He was described as ‘a cyclone in human shape’. Dickie had served first in the London Regiment and then in the AOD and , at least at one period, had commanded an ammunition train. There is an intriguing piece of evidence suggesting that Dicky had travelled much further afield, […]

Reddy Readman COO Chilwell 1944

A feature of the world wars was the crucial role played by people from civilian jobs. Edgar Readman worked in the steel industry in Sheffield before serving as a lieutenant in the South Staffordshire Regiment. He was posted to the Tank Battalion, being promoted to captain on 30 November 1917. After the war he returned […]

Alfred Goldstein COO Greenford 1944

Alfred Goldstein was commissioned from the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, “The Shop”, to the Gunners; he served from 1916 until the end of the war in France with the 154 Siege Battery RA, and there he rose to the rank of major, in command of the battery, at the age of twenty-two. He was […]

Dunkirk to D Day – sources and characters

I was invited to write a guest blog on Dunkirk to D Day for Pen & Sword I also recorded a short video on my sources

Geoffrey Palmer COO Bicester 1944

Geoffrey Palmer always took great pride in the fact that he had risen through the ranks. He had served during the Great War in the London Regiment rising to the rank of captain. He then transferred to the RAOC and was one of the group of officers to attend the first Ordnance Officers course (the […]

Bob Hiam, COD Old Dalby, AOD Caen and Antwerp 1944

Whilst the Dunkirk evacuation was taking place, Bob Hiam was busy setting up what was intended to be an overflow Motor Transport Depot for COD Chilwell. Soon it became clear that a further massive depot for armaments was needed to support COD Donnington, and COD Old Dalby began to take shape. Bob Hiam had worked in tyre sales and […]

Arms and vaccines – strange bedfellows

I was surprised when I read in the newspaper about vaccine production by Oxford University/Astra Zeneca to discover that the government had backed the development of the vaccine by paying money up front; not just money, but many millions. I was reminded of two other periods in our history when government has put is money where its mouth […]

How Dunkirk to D Day came about

Writing War on Wheels and Ordnance, I became more and more aware that the same names kept appearing. It chilled me to realise that these people had fought in not only one world war, but two. They are called the blighted generation, and rightly so.I decided to explore the lives of such men and women […]

My forthcoming book Dunkirk to D Day

I have spent the last five years researching and writing about how the British Army was supplied in the two world wars. In my research the same names kept re-appearing. I needed to find out who these people were: what had prepared them for the task they undertook, what they did afterwards and what impact […]

120,000 post hits on philwilliamswriter.co.uk

Dunkirk to D Day is to be launched next month, with the reveal of the book cover. It tells the story of the lives of those who led the RAOC supply of the army in WW2 Now under contract, is How Britain Created the Manufacturing World. This began as an exploration of the many companies […]