NextBackGeorge Knight was born in Derby in July 1920 but moved with his parents to Redditch when he was a toddler. His mother had family locally, her maiden name was Sullivan. There are still a number of Sullivans in Redditch; not surprising as she was one of 11 children. She was also a cousin of Tom Wilkes, Aston Villa goalkeeper in the 1995 FA Cup Final.
George grew up in Redditch, living on Clive Road and attending Bridge Street (Holyoakesfield) School and St Stephen’s School on Peakman St. He went to work at the Austin at Longbridge at the age of 14. At the age of 19 he joined the local Artillery Battery of the Territorial Army.
As war approached in 1939 the Unit was called up; the photo of the battery was taken at Lyndhurst (New Forest) during the call-
As the war progressed the battery was split up and many went off as part of other units. My Father however, apart from a stint in Northern Ireland (Coleraine) during the Emergency, went nowhere and saw no action. He did spend some time with a unit at Barnard Castle, this unit took part in evaluating and introducing new guns (such as the 25 pdr gun).
Becoming bored, he volunteered for the Commandos after the 1942 Dieppe raid. This process took some time. Oscar Andrews, his life-
Dad went off and did his Commando Training, and as a very well-
The Unit landed as part of No 1 Special Service Brigade on D Day and was in constant combat for several months in Normandy. They held the Eastern flank and were subject to constant attack from elite German forces. A large number were killed, wounded, missing or captured.
On 19th August dad was taken out of the line after being blown up by a mortar bomb; of his two colleagues nothing was found. He spent some time in hospital and, being declared unfit for frontline duties, he was posted to 2555 Prisoner of War camp at Pont-
Ten minutes walk down the road was the edge of Tilly. This village was on a major crossroads at the front and had be fought over for weeks. There was virtually nothing left of it. But on this edge was the house of a graceful elderly lady, Madame Husson.
She had seen her husband die on New Year’s Eve 1944, and had buried two Canadian soldiers in her garden a few months before. The British soldiers would barter chocolate and cigarettes with her in exchange for Cider, Calvados and eggs.
One day two young sisters arrived from Burgundy after a long journey across France to see their grandmother, whom they had not seen since outbreak of war four years earlier. One of them, Marie-
Dad never talked much about the war until three days before he died in 1985.
He carried the mental scars all his life; nowadays he would receive counselling for Post-
