you never know who lives next door!

Hi,
During a visit to The DLI museum I saw amongst the superb medal displays a small photograph of a former Sgt in the Regiment Mr Thomas Blenkinsop beneath the photograph was a brief account of his long service in the DLI and the circumstances in which he won his Military Medal which I have posted here;-
Thomas Blenkinsop 1st DLI Military Medal
Born in 1913, he was a miner before joining the DLI as a Regular soldier in 1934. He served for 22 years in India, Sudan, China, Egypt, Europe, the Far East, Korea and in the UK, before being discharged as a WO2 (Permanent Staff Instructor) of the 8th Battalion DLI at Gilesgate in Durham in 1956.
During the Second World War, he served as a Sergeant with the 1st Battalion DLI and won the Military Medal on 7 December 1941 during a night attack on Italian positions dug-in on an escarpment south of Tobruk, North Africa, when he took over command of "C" Company, after his officer Adrian Keith had been killed, capturing the position and 50 Italian prisoners. Colonel Arderne later wrote that Sgt Blenkinsop was with me as we hit the Italian position after seeing his officer killed he was out for blood and disappeared into the Italians dug out after a great deal of noise and gunfire, Sgt Blenkinsop, surfaced..”Well!” I said expectedly Sgt Blenkinsop looking sheepish straightened up and replied loudly ”Sorry Sir! They offered me chocolates…I didn't have the heart to kill them!” Behind him trooped a line of Italian prisoners.The British soldier can never hate for long added Col Arderne
During the Korean War, he served with The King's Shropshire Light Infantry. He rejoined the DLI after Korea and was awarded the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal in 1956. Thomas Blenkinsop, who lived in Witton Gilbert, near Durham City, died in January 1992.
As I read I had a bit of a laugh at what Col Arderne had said about the chocolates which brought my wife over to where I was standing¬What are you smirking at?" I pointed out the picture of Sgt Blenkinsop to which she remarked "Oh.. thats Tommy Blenkinsop...he used to live next to us when I was a little girl in Witton Gilbert(Durham City) I went to school with his children!!!!!!"
Regards
Verrieres

 

They have to live next to someone .
A few years ago I discovered one of the first soldiers into Bergen-Belsen lives just a few hundred yards from me , he has been interviewed by the local press a few times so I reckon he can do without me knocking on his door.
Verrieres , fact can sometimes be stranger than fiction.
In a passing conversation with a well knoiw historian from this neck of the woods - he told me how a gent he worked with one day out of the blue started to tell him about the sinking Prince of wales and what it was like at the time of the attack.
"Hold on , you never toild me you were on Prince of Wales....."
Reply came " But you never asked me !"

 

" But you never asked me !"

James,

How many times have we heard that said!.

Last week at the morning tea and buiscuits at the RBL in Charlottenburg, another new member Sydney, a veteran of the FAA was listening to me talking with another member about the Norway campaign and the sinking of the Glorious.

Sydney was in the convoy and never knew the reason why the Glorious and two destroyers broke away to return to Scapa Flow before being sunk.

I have copied a chapter from a book and made 2 copies for the members.
I hope to learn more on Wednesday and hopefully point him in our forums direction.

Interesting old world that we live in!

Regards

Tom

 

My father dropped one or two things like that on me , just off the cuff by the way , "no one ever asked me , so why should I say."
The right moment in time is all that it takes.
Tom I hope you manage to get a talk with the gentlemen again in due course.
Sadly when this generation goes they will take so much with them and we will be very much the poorer for their passing.

 

All being well, next wednesday morning for Tea, biscuits and a good natter.
I did not get to ask much last week as it was at the very end of the meeting that the conversation took place.
I can only assume that he was serving on HMS Ark Royal or HMS Furious until proved otherwise.
I will keep you informed of developments.

Regards
Tom

 

Hi,
It seems that phrase “But you never asked me” has a habit of coming back to bite me.Long ago in my mis-spent youth I kept a few racing pigeons in an old shed on the local allotment(a tradition up here in the North East) The old man in the next allotment was a real character and I got to know him really well over the years(This was a time when an old man talking to a young boy was not viewed with suspicion as it is nowadays)He often talked about his youth and the things he would get up to and draw comparassions with the future.I knew he must have served his country in some way yet only once did he mention the war and that was to express his regret at the death of a young German who died after receiving a wound to his neck. Some of the kids asked him if he`d been at Dunkirk his answer was always the same “I would have been but I was on leave!”…where you at the D-Day landings mister?” would come another question ..and back would come the answer..” I think I was on leave at the time. The kids bored with this would turn and walk off the old gentleman would turn to me wink and smile to himself. He did tell me that he was a reformed alcoholic who in his heyday was a regular sight in the streets of Sunderland often in the gutter.All that changed when he suffered a heart attack in the street and received serious head injuries when he fell to the ground being a regular sight in the gutters of Sunderland he said nobody checked on him presuming he`d had a skinfull and was sleeping it off,three hours he lay in a back street in a snowstorm and in that time he said he`d made his peace with God and if the Lord saw fit to spare him he would change.Several days later he awoke in the Hospital recovering from a lifesaving operation and true to his word he did change. This Gentleman well liked wherever he went died suddenly in his sleep in September 1980.The next day the local paper carried the headline Local Military Medal Hero Dies suddenly !…Military Medal ..I remember asking my Dad why didn't he tell me …my Dads answer was “But you never asked him!” After his funeral I spoke with his sister and I said I didn't even know he had the Military Medal until I read it in the local paper she smiled and said I told them about that but I didn't mention his Distinguished Conduct Medal….D.C.M as well! Yes she replied..why didn't I tell them because “they never asked me!”
This gentleman`s name was
Fusilier Richard (Dickie) Burnett , DCM MM ,Northumberland Fusiliers
And he was my friend.
DCM LONDON GAZETTE, 20 DECEMBER, 1940
MM LONDON GAZETTE, 8 FEBRUARY, 1945
Regard
Verrieres

 

We had a little bloke came up to take over as manager,didn't talk a lot but one day talking war time in the islands he mentioned he had been a member of 2/2 Commando.

Have recently been reading All The Bulls Men, and sure enough there was a photo and several mentions of Syd, as you say you never know.

The 2/2 was thought to have been wiped out as nothing was heard of them for some time,a story of real survivors.

Syd was just a quiet little bloke.

Cheers Rob

 

”Sorry Sir! They offered me chocolates…I didn't have the heart to kill them!”

Oh, bless! And who would? Isn't there something just So deep in the human psych about food and fighting? Dogs roll over and expose themselves to an easy kill. Humans seem to respond to food. Funny. I even have a personal story along those lines. But, more in keeping with the theme;

Years ago, being as chattery about the S.A.S as anyone, following Princes Gate, I burbled incessantly to an older friend of mine about them. Ye know the stuff. Purest Hero Worship. The whole shebang. I was quite obsessed. He even suggested I have a crack at joining! Sod that! I just carried on worshipping from afar. Most of this directed at my poor mate, as I vocalised my thoughts, every time we met for a solid session.

Then, one night, I ended up in his little bedroom cum personal space cum study. And there was " Who Dares Wins " on his office desk. That set me off! Had he read it? " No. I was given it by a friend. " He hadn't read it?!? Jeezus H christ! Did he not know then that, blah, blah Oman, blah, blah, Aden ....! " I'd devoured the book and knew all about them!

Yeah. You're ahead of me here, aren't ye? That's about the time he seemed to try to wipe the eyes from his face. Gave an almighty sigh and finally confessed to me, after almost a decade; " I was In the S.A.S! "

Oh god! I felt about " . " small! Should've bloody asked him!

 

Immediate.

For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty near Bulcamp[...] the Bruges - Gurnes Canal on 31st May 1940.

His Company Commander called for volunteers to take the Machine Gun position across the canal. He at once volunteered and advanced with his gun and tripod under heavy shell fire. Having established his gun in a very exposed position this soldier inflicted great losses on the enemy, though under fire, until his ammunition was expended. The bridge was destroyed before he returned by swimming across with the gun, having had to abandon the tripod.


Gazetted 20.12.40


Jim,

I take it the 'gun' was a Vickers?

Regards
Andy

 

its not really military related, but I've got a similar story.

I did my undergraduate dissertation on a nautical instrument maker in 19th Century Portsmouth, who lived at 66 High Street.

Then several years later I came to do my family history... and found that my maternal grandfather was born in and lived in.... 66 High Street.

Sadly its no longer there, bombed in January 1941.

 

For many years, (when I was a kid), I lived next door to a WW1 fighter pilot, in fact we bouth the house off them when they were still alive as they had no children, and knocked it into one, when both Mr Gerrard and his wife died.

And only yesterday, after reading the local paper did I realise that one of the Bletchly Park code breakers lives a few doors away

P

 

That's a really nice story. Living just ten minutes from the DLI; I'll have to have to pop in and a look at that medal!

 

During the late 60's early 70's I was a young policeman . Fresh out of college my jacket was bare of medal ribbons unlike the men I worked with. WW2, Korea, Palestine, Malay and many more conflicts had involved these officers who spoke quietly but had a presence I could never emulate. You sometimes caught them speaking of a wartime experience but quickly dried up when the new boy walked in.They were part of a club or brotherhood I could never enter. If you asked about a medal that you knew was something special you would get a self depreciating reply, very rarely any details. My shift inspect, a gentleman of the old school, had been a navigator in Wellingtons and Pathfinders. I only found out because he always wore a strange watch which was hardly legible,his original RAF issue watch, and I cheekily said on his wage could he not afford a new one.Yes I did feel sheepish when he explained the history of he and the watch. Again not much detail but enough to know this man had beaten the Grim Reaper more times than was expected.
Great respect to those weary men who took great patience to teach this whippersnapper the ways of the imperfect world.

 

I have alays been interested in the war in the Pacific, especially the Guadalcanal campaign. My wife and I have been together for 24 years and I have known her best friend, Vicky, that entire time. About 10 years ago, my wife asked me if I wanted to go to Vicky's with her. I declined and she said that Vicky was living with her father, who was in ill health, and that he was a WW II vet and I might enjoy talking to him. I agreed to go and found out that he was a member of the 1st Marine Division that landed on Guadalcanal on August 7, 1942. I had known his daughter for 15 years and had no idea he had been there. We talked for several hours and he told me some amazing stories. I wish that I had taken a tape recorder with me. He passed away about a year later but I managed to see him one more time before it happened. If I had known of his past from the time I met his daughter, we could have had many pleasant hours over the years discussing his experiences. He really enjoyed talking about the war even though a lot of his memories weren't pleasant ones.

 

Immediate.
For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty near Bulcamp[...] the Bruges - Gurnes Canal on 31st May 1940.

His Company Commander called for volunteers to take the Machine Gun position across the canal. He at once volunteered and advanced with his gun and tripod under heavy shell fire. Having established his gun in a very exposed position this soldier inflicted great losses on the enemy, though under fire, until his ammunition was expended. The bridge was destroyed before he returned by swimming across with the gun, having had to abandon the tripod.


Gazetted 20.12.40


Jim,

I take it the 'gun' was a Vickers?

Regards
Andy


Thanks for posting that Drew it really is appreciated...like I said in the other post he was a good friend who I used to talk for hours with and never tired of his stories. `Dickie` won his military medal in Italy
`On the night of the 16th September 1944 Fusilier Richard Burnett earned a Military Medal to add to his previously won Distinguished Conduct Medal by carrying a wounded comrade to safety over some 500 yards of bullet swept ground in full view of the enemy forces........

We always suspected he`d done something brave but the nearest he came to telling me was that he had lost a lot of good friends and had lost his temper once and swam a river with a machine gun in order to `give some back`as he said at the time. I remember he told me of a young 18 year old German who had been shot in the neck despite getting him back to the Allied lines the lad died..as he told me he wiped away the tears from his eyes...just a kid he said just a kid.

Verrieres

 

I have had a read of the many posts on this thread and it still amazes me how the brotherhood of old comrades holds strong. Many former service men & women speak seldomly of their exploits during their service. Many will say they were just doing what was the right thing. Many do not seek recognition for what they did. Sadly as has been posted when asked the answer comes "well you never asked". I will never know what happened during my Grandads service simply because " I never asked" but then again my parents always said he did not like to talk about the war. May be I shouldn't have listened to them.
My driving instructor many years ago dropped a suprise on me during one of my lessons. He was a para at Arnhem. He also seemed reluctant to talk but mentioned he was in the film made later.
As well as this my next door neighbour was in the Tank Corps in N Africa. He also talks very little of his time. every now and then you get the odd "funny". he say that he knew when the Germans were coming because the Italians came first. It was the only way they could make sure their allies would fight. All said with a wry smile. He told me that he did not take part in the battle for Torbruk as he was in jail for a minor offence and missed the whole battle.

So yes I agree you never know who is living next door.

Nick

 

As a child i lived between a Royal Marine Commando and a Tank Crew member who was out at Dunkirk and Back in on D-Day. Across the road lived one of Wingates Chindits and a Paratrooper who served at Arnhem. Boy was i jealous when we played Army games as all their kids played with original Gun Holsters,Equipment etc... Sadly all but one are now dead and George [the Tankee] as now moved away. Last time i spoke to him he was on the bus going for a medical for his Army pension. He had a little tin of ball bearing which when he was wounded in 1944 had been slowly working there way out of his body over the years.

 

Who is your wife? This is (was) my dad.

 

Just to answer the current question of "you never asked' - the BBC did just that a few years ago and the results are there for all to see in the Archives where some 47,000 articles respond to that same question - if you are at all concerned about what really happened - then find that link and enjoy the tales of humour mainly - some derring do -but the truth of what it was all about from people such as Snowie Baines - Tom the Pom -"from Mold to Dunkirk - Alamein- Cassino " even one or two about D Day even ...WOW !

47,000 tales- enough to answer most questions like "what did you do in the war Grandad "?- don't need to ask - it's all there for posterity ....
Cheers