York Army Museum 8th June 2019

By the time I arrived, I was greeted by Sgt Hebden, Cpl Heaton, Pte Heaton and ATS Mellor. They were busy sorting out the dining shelter. I got parked up and joined the effort. The dining shelter was soon up and we were busy arranging the display. We were joined by Privates Hancock, Dixon and Dennington. Despite a damp start the weather was improving and the sun decided to make an appearance. I decide to take the canvas of the Jeep. This was a big mistake as no sooner had I done so than it started to rain. At first, the rain was only slight and we soon had a few members of the public stopping to chat.

As this event was on the 8^th of June we wanted it to have a strong emphasis on what the East Yorks did on D-Day. The museum was playing its part and had arranged for East Yorks D-Day veteran Bert Barrett to attend. To meet Bert was the actor William, who will be playing Bert in the play Bomb Happy and the show's producer/author Helena. The play is being performed at the museum on 14-16 June.

 Additionally, we had Jane Milne, daughter of East Yorks D-Day veteran Captain Oates, visiting. Captain Oates won the Military Cross for his courage and determination in getting his men off the beach and taking their objective despite being wounded.

Jane had very kindly provided us with many of her father’s documents including his personal diary. A great addition to our understanding of the East Yorks on D-Day.

We were visited by BBC radio York as part of their Finders Keepers feature. This gave us the opportunity to get a bit about the East Yorks live on the radio.

As the day progressed the weather worsened with only a few brief rain free spells interspersed with heavy rain. At several points, the display was completely without public.

Lunch was had and the weather continued with the odd dry spell and a great deal of heavy rain. By 15.00 hrs we had no public and the cold was beginning to seep in. So we started to tidy up the display ready to call it a day. The Sarge went to get changed and I put the canvas back on the Jeep. As soon as these two tasks had been completed it stopped raining and the sun came out and so did the public. We then had a final flurry of interest in the display. At 16.00 hrs we started to pull the display in which was hampered by a constant stream of interested public. Gradually everyone got there kit sorted and loaded into cars and people started to depart.

I stayed with Pte Hancock who was waiting for a pickup. I had loaded the jeep and Pte Hancock had piled up his kit ready to load into his van. However, the public was still interested and we kept getting kit out and then putting it away again. Eventually, Charlotte arrived with the van and we were able to get loaded up and get on our way.

Sargeant Hebden And Corporal Heaton keeping dry in the museum

The crew

The Rain

The public