Somewhere Along the Lines

In 1931 a 17year old East End lad, Alf Blyth,enlisted in the Buffs.His Great Grandson,Matt Dobson,military historian ,has recorded the main events of the next 15 years ,hither to not known in any detail.While serving with the Buffs Alf spent some time in Palestine. In 1938,at the end of his service he trained in Southampton as a Telephone Engineer and worked there until September 1939,when he was recalled into the Army as a Military Policeman where he participated in the British Expeditionary Force and the evacuation from Dunkirk. In 1942 following heavy bombing in Southampton, Alf was recalled to help restore the  communications there. In 1943 he was then recalled back into the army this time to be a Linesman with the Royal Signals Corp at the time of the D Day landing. He participated in the Canadian landing at Juno and continued working as a linesman until he was wounded in November 1944 on the frontline advance towards Germany,returning in January 1945 and seeing victory in Hamburg in May 45. After training as a parachutist he was to be an airborne linesman in the Far East.Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought the war to an end,and he was demobbed,only to find that he and his family were homeless. 18 Months as squatters in a empty army camp followed before returning to a normal domestic life. This book also has a separate section by Pat Ashworth ,Alf's daughter about life for the family while Alf was serving,and a small account of an Aunt who served in the ATS in the War.