2nd Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment

C.S.M. Ernest William Fereday
Army Service No. 5334942

ERNEST WILLIAM FEREDAY
28TH MARCH 1916 - 24TH OCTOBER 1995

[LS40-1] We are now in France. The newspaper clip is interesting because it came out of 'War Illustrated', a magazine published during the war giving a great deal of photographs, facts and figures as near as it was allowed to do. The coincidence is, my sister at home Barbara, was taken the ''War Illustrated' and she was looking through this issue and saw the name 'Royal Berkshire Regiment', looking along the photograph she spotted me amongst the working gang - Corporal Fereday pounding cobbles, widening the roads, so we could get our heavy tanks to travel along (only to make it easy for the Germans eventually). With me on the 'Rammer' as we called it was Corporal Isaacs. We were all members of the Carrier at that time. Walking along the top there, on the right, is the Platoon Sergeant, there was such a rank at the time, he was sometime afterwards killed for not getting under cover, silly man!

[LS40-3] Next to this is a photograph of Barbara my sister, mentioned above, which I always carried with me, above this photo is a copy of what I wrote on the back. [LS40-3] 'I am home, but wounded, write as soon as possible. Ern'. Underneath that in pencil, almost obliterated by time now, are the names of my section that I was in charge of at the time, when I arrived home (England) the hospital train stopped in Oxford Station which was very frustrating. I didn't know where we were going but I hoped we would be unloaded there, but it wasn't to be. I could only write with my left hand as it was my right hand that had been wounded and also with slight head wounds. I managed to write that message out and I handed it to a railway porter and I asked him to deliver it to... Chawley Villas, Cumnor, please. 'By all means son, by all means'. That must have been on a Saturday because apparently he and his wife cycled up to Cumnor from Oxford and delivered that postcard on the Sunday morning. That was the first information my people had of me for three weeks!
As I said, we didn't know where we were going on the hospital train and eventually arrived at Sheffield Military Hospital or to give it its correct name, Sheffield Military Emergency Hospital. It was in fact an ex 'loony bin'. The part of the building the mentally ill patients were in was portioned off and the rest of the hospital turned into wards.
In view of the fact that this is being written over 40 years after the war, I feel I must correct the point of view we had of the 'loonies'. We were young, fit and healthy in mind and body. Such a thing as being mentally ill was not known about. I now know that these mental patients did in fact, suffer more, in order to create surgical and medical facilities for the troops from France and also having had two periods of mental illness myself (due to the stresses and strains of conditions of five years of war) I apologise most sincerely to those patients for the off-handed way that we regarded them as 'loonies'.

The top left hand photograph shows two Frenchmen at the back and a chap from the Royal Berkshire Regiment and me. That was when we had recovered considerably and were allowed out and we found a photographic studio. The two French chaps seem to be badly burned when their petrol tanker was bombed and caught fire but were fortunate and had superficial burns and they recovered very quickly.
My friend on the left was climbing into the back of the truck and a bullet went across his backside and laid open both cheeks. Quite a nasty wound, but it was put right and of course he was sore and stiff so he walked in a crablike fashion. I have told this story because it was quite a bit of a laugh really.

When we did go out in Sheffield, there was a large Woolworth store. Like most Woolworth Stores, even today, you went into an entrance in one street and came out into another. Well, we were walking through, my arm was in a sling and he was walking crabwise. This was the time of Dunkirk remember, all the civilians were welcoming all the chaps that were coming back. They were shoving chocolates, half crown (12½) and cigarettes into my sling loading it up and when we got to the other side of the store my sling was absolutely packed. My poor mate, he had no sling so he didn't have anything so we shared it between us. He then said "What shall we do now, go back to the hospital?" "No fear", I said, "We'll walk back through"! So we walked back through and the same thing happened again I had another sling full of cigarettes, chocolates and what-have-you, and when we got back to the hospital we had a share out. That was a lovely job!

Bottom left, the gentleman there was the Landlord of a particular pub in Hereford near where we were based, he is with his dog. He looked after us very well indeed. If we were a little short, he would say, "Never mind, at the end of the week or when you have it" I cannot recollect his name now but he is long since dead, but he made life bearable in September 1940.

Top right, this is photo of Ormsby Manor, taken from a small lake set in the garden. I took that, films were difficult to get hold of at the time and you will notice a large black blob, don't know what that was I'm sure. Those films were not of a very high standard but never the less they seemed to have lasted a good many years.
This Manor was taken over by the 18th Norfolk Division and I am afraid that they did not behave themselves very well, they were mostly Territorials and the discipline was not of the standard of the regular Army.
They did considerable damage to the Billiard room, tore up the green cloth on the table and damaged the electricity.

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