LEN PRIOR

The story of Len Prior who served with the Royal Norfolk Regiment, 2nd Battalion (Infantry).  He started at Norwich Britannia Barracks and after several moves around England, served in India, Kohima and Burma.

I was born on the 14th June 1924 at March in Cambridgeshire and was one of a family of eight.  By 1939, my two brothers were already in the Army;  one of them was a prisoner at Singapore and the other went to France and Dunkirk.

I volunteered for the Army (the Royal Norfolk Regiment) in July 1942 at the age of 18 years.  I did my basic training at Norwich and passed my driving test whilst there.  I was stationed at several stations around England and then in October 1943, left Liverpool on the Dutch Troopship 'Marnix Van St. Aldegonde'(Click on link for more details).  This ship was part of a large convoy bound for the Mediterranean.  On November 6th, we were torpedoed whilst off the Algerian Coast.  I was picked up after some hours and landed at Phillipeville in North Africa.  Later we were taken by the 'Derbyshire' to Bombay.

After Deolali Camp, I joined up with the 2nd Battalion Norfolks at Belgaum, near Goa, and here we did our jungle training.  Afterwards we went from Bangalore and Madras by train to Calcutta.  In April 44 we were flown by Dakota to Dinpur and then became involved in the fighting along the road to Kohima, and then at Aradura Spur and 6pt Ridge.  On the 14th June, I was lucky to see my 20th Birthday.

After a rest at Kohima, we had a very hard march through Burma to Mandalay, fighting most of the way. 

On the 12th May 1945, we were flown out from Mying Yan to Chittagong and then on to Kanchrapara which was 35 miles from Calcutta.

I would love to hear from any of my old comrades who are still out and about, and am available on 0116-2884979.