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New Board / Band of Brothers
« on: August 05, 2021, 04:46:47 am »
WILTSHIRE BROTHERS IN ARMS.
James Ireson was born in Swindon in 1899. The eldest of what was to be a family of 7 surviving children. Just 15 when the first world war started he joined up as soon as he could and was posted to the Duke of Cornwall's light infantry.
Straight after training he was sent to France in the Arras Sector. In almost his first action at the age of 18 he was gassed in the battle of Vimy Ridge. Invalided out he was to suffer severe chest problems for the rest of his life.
James's younger brother Steve (my father) was working for his father Emmanuel in Wroughton, one of the largest sausage skin manufacturers in England but being paid a pittance! He persuaded his father (who owned a racehorse) that he could become a jockey (he was only 5ft 3in) and was duly let go to Fred Darling's racing stables at Beckington as a stable lad.
Sadly Steve could not cut it as a jockey but racings loss was the Army's gain.
He joined The Wiltshire Regiment just down the road at Le Marchant Barracks in 1926. After training and a year with the 1st Battalion in the UK he joined the 2nd Bn in India in 1928.
Back to the 1st Bn in Egypt in1930 he was promoted L/Cpl before the Bn moved to Shanghai. 2 years later Steve was promoted Cpl and in 1935 went to Singapore.In 1936 he is posted to the 2nd Bn in Palestine to quell the Arab Revolt.
1938 finds him back at the depot and then to the Army Gas School at Porton before becoming Sergeant Gas instructor at Le Marchant Barracks.After a short spell at the Infantry Training Centre he was off to 119 Convalescent Depot, Westbury as CQMS.
Promoted WO11 in 1941. One of his responsibilities was the camouflage of the Westbury White Horse as it was feared that German bomber pilots could use it as a marker en route to Bristol and Cardiff!
In January 1943 he attended 165 OCTU in Dunbar and was duly commissioned 2nd Lt and after 6 months at 27 Primary Training Centre was posted to 30 Green Howards and embarked for Tunisia. on 12 Sept 1943
After 8 months fighting through Italy Steve was now a Temporary Captain and Adjutant of Lammie Convalescent Depot just North of Rome.
Following his return to England Steve was posted to 2 German POW camps before heading back to the Depot and transferring to the RAPC . He left the Army in 1949.
Younger brother Pte William Ireson was not so lucky.
After joining up in 1940 William was posted to 4th Bn Norfolk Regt. and sent to Singapore in 1942 where, after heavy fighting in the jungles of Malaya, the Norfolks were ordered to surrender. Ron was taken into captivity and spent the next three years in Changi Malai 1 and Malai 4. He would have suffered the worst of treatment at the hands of his captors but survived the war.
It is just possible that he may have met his cousin Percival Spencer Smith (also a Wiltshireman, descended from the Smiths of West Ashton) in Changi. Percy was a Sergeant in the RASC attached to the Australian 15th Division and was also captured in 1942. Percy was shipped North into Burma as part of 'Force H' which was used in the construction of the notorious 'Burma Railway' Percy also survived the war.
Wiltshire 'BROTHERS IN ARMS' by Clive Ireson, late The Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment (Berkshire and Wiltshire)
James Ireson was born in Swindon in 1899. The eldest of what was to be a family of 7 surviving children. Just 15 when the first world war started he joined up as soon as he could and was posted to the Duke of Cornwall's light infantry.
Straight after training he was sent to France in the Arras Sector. In almost his first action at the age of 18 he was gassed in the battle of Vimy Ridge. Invalided out he was to suffer severe chest problems for the rest of his life.
James's younger brother Steve (my father) was working for his father Emmanuel in Wroughton, one of the largest sausage skin manufacturers in England but being paid a pittance! He persuaded his father (who owned a racehorse) that he could become a jockey (he was only 5ft 3in) and was duly let go to Fred Darling's racing stables at Beckington as a stable lad.
Sadly Steve could not cut it as a jockey but racings loss was the Army's gain.
He joined The Wiltshire Regiment just down the road at Le Marchant Barracks in 1926. After training and a year with the 1st Battalion in the UK he joined the 2nd Bn in India in 1928.
Back to the 1st Bn in Egypt in1930 he was promoted L/Cpl before the Bn moved to Shanghai. 2 years later Steve was promoted Cpl and in 1935 went to Singapore.In 1936 he is posted to the 2nd Bn in Palestine to quell the Arab Revolt.
1938 finds him back at the depot and then to the Army Gas School at Porton before becoming Sergeant Gas instructor at Le Marchant Barracks.After a short spell at the Infantry Training Centre he was off to 119 Convalescent Depot, Westbury as CQMS.
Promoted WO11 in 1941. One of his responsibilities was the camouflage of the Westbury White Horse as it was feared that German bomber pilots could use it as a marker en route to Bristol and Cardiff!
In January 1943 he attended 165 OCTU in Dunbar and was duly commissioned 2nd Lt and after 6 months at 27 Primary Training Centre was posted to 30 Green Howards and embarked for Tunisia. on 12 Sept 1943
After 8 months fighting through Italy Steve was now a Temporary Captain and Adjutant of Lammie Convalescent Depot just North of Rome.
Following his return to England Steve was posted to 2 German POW camps before heading back to the Depot and transferring to the RAPC . He left the Army in 1949.
Younger brother Pte William Ireson was not so lucky.
After joining up in 1940 William was posted to 4th Bn Norfolk Regt. and sent to Singapore in 1942 where, after heavy fighting in the jungles of Malaya, the Norfolks were ordered to surrender. Ron was taken into captivity and spent the next three years in Changi Malai 1 and Malai 4. He would have suffered the worst of treatment at the hands of his captors but survived the war.
It is just possible that he may have met his cousin Percival Spencer Smith (also a Wiltshireman, descended from the Smiths of West Ashton) in Changi. Percy was a Sergeant in the RASC attached to the Australian 15th Division and was also captured in 1942. Percy was shipped North into Burma as part of 'Force H' which was used in the construction of the notorious 'Burma Railway' Percy also survived the war.
Wiltshire 'BROTHERS IN ARMS' by Clive Ireson, late The Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment (Berkshire and Wiltshire)