My Visit to Normandy ...

This October when visiting Normandy on the French/History trip with Mr Hardwick and other pupils from school, we visited several places of interest, one of which was the Pegasus Bridge. When looking round I saw a photograph which I thought looked like my granddad – I couldn’t believe my eyes! I took a photograph of the photograph and when I got home I had the film developed. When I showed it to my granddad he said yes, it was him and he could remember some of the other men who were on the photograph with him, although not all their names. Here is a brief account from my granddad of his life in the Second World War…

On the 27th July 1941 Andrew Irwin Stewart (my granddad) enlisted at Omagh for the Royal Ulster Rifles (aged 14); he later trained there.

His first posting abroad was to Algiers. There he was posted to the 1st London Irish battalion which fought their way up to Tunisia. Then he landed at Syracuse in Sicily. He spent two or three weeks in hospital with an infected foot after the campaign had finished. The battalion then took part in the invasion of Italy. He landed at Taranto Naval Base (to stop them scuttling their war ships so they could be used by us) and fought off the Adriatic side up to the Sangro River.

It was then he caught Malaria and was sent to a hospital in Palestine - which is now Israel. From there he was sent to Egypt near Ismalia on the Suez Canal, which they all used to swim in. Whilst there he had 14 days leave in Cairo and he stayed with a Greek who took him to the Greek quarters a few times and was very good to him.

They were then sent on convoy from Alexandria through Iraq and Iran to Russia to escort guns, ammunitions and provisions for the Russians overland as the ships were being sunk by submarines.

Having caught Malaria he was once again sent to hospital, this time in Tripoli.

After he recovered he was sent back to Algiers to a holding camp where they found out his real age – he was a few months off being 18; the official age for joining the Army. As a result he was sent back to Omagh.

When he reached 18 he was sent to France as part of the reinforcements at Pegasus Bridge under the command of Major Liddle in ‘S’ Company. The nearest he actually got to the bridge itself was a farmhouse close to it.

After further training he was attached to the 6th Airborne Division. They drove through Belgium into Holland to within 2 miles of the German border and were stationed at the river Maas. He used to wave to the German soldiers on the opposite bank and they used to wave back. They were then sent on a glider over the Rhine (Germany) but unfortunately for my granddad the glider crashed and his left knee was injured and so he ended up in hospital – again.

During that invasion 16 officers and 423 troops were killed out of ‘S’ Company, but casualties were surprisingly low.

He was invalided out of the Army on the 17th April 1946. He met Field Marshall Montgomery 3 times; 1st time just outside Tunisia, 2nd time near Mount Etna and 3rd time at Stourmont Castle (Northern Ireland). My granddad and his friend Desmond Bradley joined the Army together. Desmond was killed on the battle of Normandy and was buried there. He was 20 years old. Andrew Irwin Stewart in uniform and swimming with his WW2 comrades. This article was contributed by a Dowdalian.