Mangilli-climpson - Larkhills wartime locators : the history of twelve artillery survey regiments (RA and IA) in the Second World War ; [Royal Artillery Survey in the Second World War]

I should like to acknowledge the following institutions and individuals who have given up large amounts of their time to assist me with my project: to the staff of the National Archives - formerly Public Record Office at Kew Gardens; of the Imperial War Museum, in particular Margaret Brooks of the Sound Archive, John Delaney of the Photograph Archive and Simon Robbins of the Documents Department; to the Director and staff of the National Army Museum; to Col Michael Phillips, Historical Secretary of the RA Institution; and to the staff at Firepower - the Library and Museum of the Royal Artillery; the Library of the Royal Engineers; the Meteorological Library, Exeter, in particular Graham Bartlett and Maurice Crewe; the Ordnance Survey Library, Southampton; to Mrs Joan Senior and her staff at the Badley Library of the Royal School of Artillery, Larkhill; to the staff of the Burma Campaign Memorial Library at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London; of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission; to Andrzej Suchcitz, Keeper of Archives of the Polish Institute & Sikorski Museum at Princes Gate in London; to Henri Rogister and the Centre de Recherches et d Informations sur la Bataille des Ardennes (CRIBA) in Liege; to Michael Richardson of the Information Services at the University of Bristol; to William Macnaught, Director of Libraries & Arts of the Gateshead Central Library; and to Roger Bristow of the Information Services of the Hastings Library.

Futhermore, I must thank the President and many branch secretaries of the Dunkirk Veterans, the Normandy Veterans, and the British Korean Veterans Association; to Maj Samuel Bradshaw, chairman of the Eighth Army Association; to John Clarke Hon Secretary of the Monte Cassino Veterans Association; to Lt Col J.N. Cormack, MBE, MC, editor of Dekho ; to Maj John Timbers, former editor of The Crunner ; to John Bensley, former editor of 94 Everywhere - the newsletter of 94th Locating Regiment and Maj Gen Ralph Crossley, CB, CBE one time Commanding Officer of the unit; to Maj Alan Gordon and Jim Smith, editors of The Ranger ; and to the Secretaries of all the few surviving Old Comrades Associations - each of whom who opened new doors to old friends.

I now must list the number of surveyors who have corresponded with me, 1st Survey: Rodney Barnett, Thomas Berrigan, Mrs Ella and James Carpenter, wife and son of Eric Carpenter, Maurice Cooper, Ronald Goodyer, Mrs Elizabeth Gough, daughter of Henry Marriott, Eric Hall, Jan Hiller, Tudor Paton, Ronald Pollard, Brig Fraser Scott, Roy Sears, Paul Tavener, Leslie Tucker, and Henry Wickins; 2nd Survey: Kenneth Anderson, Laurie Avis, Brian Bell, Jack Binnie, George Culpin, John Elliott, Eric Greenwood, William Hall, Robert Harrod, Lewis Keys, Stanley Mark, Derek Parsons, James Perks, George E. Smith, Donald Sumner, Bill Taylor, Ivan Turner, and Geoffrey Woodhead, MBE; 3rd Survey: Mrs Ann Ames, daughter-in-law of Col E.R.C. Ames, MBE, Miss Carole Ashley, daughter of Col J.O.M. Ashley, Edward Bevir, Harold Bower, Gordon Bragg, John Caines, William Climpson, John Cooper, Alf Fields, BEM, Dr Anthony Fletcher, Denys Fraser, Cyril Holdsworth, Reginald Hurd, Wilfred Innes, Thomas Leguen de Lacroix, Dennis Lealan, David Morrison, Graham Nunn, Bill Pinney, Roy Pugsley, MBE, Bert Roberts, William Roe, Eric Skuse, Larry Stradling, Clifford Strutt, Robert Sutton, and Gerry Yorath; 4th Survey: Hugh Aynesley, Norman Bradshaw, Col Eric Burini (DLI) son of Capt Albert Burini, Frank Dunston, Tom Fairnington, George Finch, MC, Victor Gray, MBE, Frank Hamer, MC, Len Jenkins, Mrs Joan Johnson, wife of William Wigan Johnson, Mrs E. Ogden, wife of Col R.H. Ogden, MC, David Philp, OBE, John Shackleton, Mrs Dorothy Suckling, daughter of Col B. Abbott, MBE, Dennis Turnbull, MM, James Whetton, nephew of Col J.T. Whetton, OBE, DSO, MC; 5th Survey: Clem ACourt, Russell Ashby, Fred Axford, Edwin Brookes, Graham Brooks, Mrs Sylvia Denny, wife of Vince Denny, Harry Dunn, Leslie Foundling, John Gregson, Gren Neilson, Ronald Paul, James Reeves, Lawrence Thurgood, son of Robert Thurgood, George Vickers, and Arnold Weight; 6th Survey: Kay Robertson, daughter of Col A.C.H. Robertson, DSO; 7th Survey: Cyril Beard, the late Colin Buchanan Dunlop, MC, Ren de Pyrecave, David Duncan, Victor Harding, G. Hewitt, Charles Lane, Tom Lewis, John McNicoll, Dennis Tiffy Osborne and later his son Robert Osborne, Robert Sanderson, Rev Denys Sherwood, Raymond Smith, Mrs Nancy Souper, wife of Robert Souper, MC, Bert Stubbs, Stanley Turner, and Peter Tyley; 8th Survey: Alex Currall and Charles Whyment; 9th Survey: Mrs Diana Brennan, niece of Col R.B. Eastwood, OBE, Ronald Bromley, MC, Mrs Joan Cleaver, wife of Col G.R. Cleaver, MBE, Alexander Gair, MBE, Wilfred Griffiths, Tom Kay, MBE, Derek Lane, Robert Malins, Dr Roy Russell-Smith, William Weichert, Raymond Welch, and William Wright; 10th Survey: John Ainsworth, Peter Button, Harold Deacon, Harold Dillistone, Geoffrey Edwards, Stanley Hill, Robert Jackson, Ivor Marshall, David Murdoch, Peter Moody, Harold Skipper, and Roland Walker; 11th Survey: Douglas Darby and Stanley Tress; and 1st Indian Survey: Patrick Brooks, Norman Girolami, and Ronald Jebbs. Other men from other units have contributed: the late Maj Gen Robert Broke, John Brookes, Jason Cartwright, Donald Ensom, Col Allan Harvey, Col Leonard Harris, B. Meakin, Donald Miles, Bernard Moore, Col John Rigby, Brig Michael Smythe, OBE, the late Kenneth Stott, and Alick Sturt. Lastly, a thank you to four members of the Northants ATS: Mrs Louise Binnie, Mrs Eileen Job, Mrs Josephine Kay and Mrs Yvonne Richardson, who were all based at some point in wartime at the School of Survey, Larkhill.

I feel I must make a separate mention to Cathy and Laton Frewen for information on the Frewen family at Northiam, to Elisabeth Rigby for her wealth of knowledge on the Northiam area, to Marie Edwards of the Northiam Parish Council, to Paul Pollak, School Archivist of Kings School Canterbury - all of which helped in the histories of the last two Survey Regiments; to Maj William Clarke, and Maj Peter Williams, RCA, for their assistance at Larkhill, and the latter for supplying me with rare copies of original histories of the two Canadian Survey units, one written immediately after the war and a second produced exclusively for members of the Canadian veteran association each with different models to work from; to Maj Alan Smith, RAA, for showing and discussing with me some of his articles on Australian locating; to Maj Kendal M. Ogilvie of the 17th US FA Observation Battalion for supplying a history of his unit and comments on Second War American Observation regiments; to Dr Yolande Hodson for making me aware of the existence and supplying useful material on Brig Malcolm Macleod, as well as to Lt Col Mike Nolan, RE, but especially to Brig Fraser Scott, and P.W.E. Taylor, QC - the latter for his wealth of technical data, and personal impressions of individuals, such as Prof Sir Lawrence Bragg, Dr John Clews, and Col Harold Hemming, whom he knew so well, as well as for allowing me to see certain uncatalogued private papers of Hemming still kept in his care.

I must thank Ron Goodyer for the permission to include his two versions of the 1st Survey song written together with Ron Reynolds - later London County Council planner in charge of the Covent Garden redevelopment, first performed in Egypt to a live audience around Christmas 1942, which he recited and sang without any prompts at the Old Comrades Association reunion in November 2001, during which others around spontaneously took their cues and joined in with the chorus; to Henry Wickins and again to Ron Goodyer as Secretary of the Veterans Association for the inclusion of two small sections of the lengthy history of the unit entitled With Apologies to Geoffrey Chaucer ; to Roy Pugsley, President of 3rd/5th Survey Association, for allowing the inclusion of The Real Dunkirk Heroes by Wally Doc Zillwood which first appeared in the Associations Newsletter during the 1970s; to Vic Gray as Secretary of 4th Survey Association for allowing me to include John Wilkinsons Taper Toils at Tinkler, to Roland Walker, who from his first letter sent copies of many of his poems, comprising All Territorials to Report to the Units, Fortress Brunswick, To a Comrade and the White Cliffs written from time to time over fifty years between 1940-90; to David Duncan for his Britain & the Poles, who insisted it was written in haste by a very young man, to Leslie Foundling for providing me with a sheet from his wartime mementos with the poems by Eric Craven performed at the Thtre de la Chanson, Tunis in June 1943, and sending me the first verse of the Mills brothers Itatianitis written from memory, which was intended to be performed at the Free Issue show in Campobasso in June 1944 only to be cancelled at the last minute when the unit was ordered to move forward; to George Culpin for allowing me to reproduce his watercolour of a Flash spotting panorama of the Mayu Ridge in the Arakan by Col D.N. Morgan, MC before he agreed to hand it over to Firepower in 2002; to Jan Hiller for giving me a set of his wartime sketches and allowing me to publish any one I chose; to Harry Dunn for supplying me with copies of sketches and panoramas drawn by J.H. Cook in Tunisia in 1943 and in Italy in 1944; to Laurie Avis for supplying me with his copy of Frank Reynolds picture of life aboard the Orbita ; to Liz Gough and the Marriott family for providing a copy of E.S. MacColls sketch of the village scene on the Sittang where the last battles were fought out in Burma in August 1945; to William Roe for giving me a copy of his cartoon sketch of Bill Clissold and John Cox which first appeared in September 1943 in YOY ; to Derek Parsons who supplied me with copies of his papers in the report of 43 Battery in the long battle of Imphal, as well as to Brian Bell for his personal notes on the first base in the Arakan, intended for the Group/ Battery War Diary , but which for unknown reasons were never included; to the individuals, all acknowledged - first and foremost Graham Nunn, who supplied me with the photographs reproduced, as well as many more photos, sufficient to produce a possible future visual record of the lives of wartime artillery surveyors to accompany the present work. I must also thank the BBC Peoples War Archive for allowing me to reproduce the 8th Survey badge supplied by Richard Cory, son of John who claimed in his family memoir, A Span of Years, that it was first designed by the draughtsmen of Capt J.B. Wearmouths D Sound ranging Troop in 1945 and that Maj Gen George P. Hays, Commander of the 10th US Mountain Division which the Survey Regiment had supported on the 5th Army front in Italy, had requested this badge to be hung in the Hall of Honor in Washington, a request which Col Tom Gadd found very fitting.