EDITOR'S CHOICE NEWS He forced me to do it - canoe man's wife Cricket club for the blind launched Five-year-old waiting to start school after transport dispute Councillors defend above-inflation rises NEWS IN VIDEO Seagulls terrorise seaside town shoppers Plane named in Keegan's honour Hartlepool bus crash victim hands over fundraising cheque to air ambulance Newcastle's new signing - they call him spiderman and here's why... Rocket to the Toon RACING PODCAST Racing tips and reports with Graham Orange of Go Racing FORMULA 1 News and Race Reports F1 Blog Circuit Guide Predictions THE HEADLINE GAME * Pit your wits against The Northern Echo and TFM in The Headline Game GET OUR NEWS BY E-MAIL Just register

Most read Comments 1 Sam to look at trialists 2 Redcap honoured by Turner Prize artist 3 Op ordeal that will haunt me forever 4 Borthwick an ‘obvious choice’, says Johnson 5 Me and Mrs T 6 Darlington lose at home 7 Early return for Nosworthy 8 Digging the Wall 9 Guisborough hope to see some Murray magic 10 From zero to hero Today | 7 Days 1 Waitrose to shut Durham City store – and open in Newcastle

Play video

Comment

ONLINE MEMORIES: A still of Mr Len Howell taken frm the video on The Northern Echo website

A SOLDIER will recall online how he cleaned tanks on Beachy Head ahead of a mysterious inspection.

Len Howell, 95, from Darlington, recounts his wartime experiences in Veterans' Stories - a Northern Echo project for Remembrance Day.

Mr Howell was a Lance Sergeant with the 31st Army Tank Brigade in England, before being posted to the Middle East for a special operations executive assignment.

He remembers spending hours cleaning tanks on the cliff tops of East Sussex, for a mystery visitor.

The visitor arrived, but did not appreciate the soldiers' efforts.

In the Middle East, Mr Howell worked at a secret wireless station near the pyramids at Giza, in Egypt.

Towards the end of war, he was seconded to the Sudan Defence Force, following the 8th Army through North Africa.

He said: "I knew the war was necessary, but when I look back, it was six years out of my life.

"I was a married man and I had a beautiful house with new furniture, and it all came to nothing.

"My wife had to go into an aircraft factory and I went into the Army - it was a long time before I saw her again."

8:56am Thursday 8th November 2007

Len Howell as a serving soldier

Print

Email this

Comment

Add your comment

Name:
Email: *
Location:
**
	e.g. 123-123
Comment: Please note: All HTML tags will be ignored. Format Text:
By posting a comment, I confirm that I have read and agree to the terms of use. Comments are not moderated but we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention and we may delete inappropriate postings. Please treat other people with respect. You must not post anything that is abusive, indecent, unlawful or defamatory. Remember, you are personally liable for what you post on this site. If you wish to complain about a comment, contact us here.
* Your email address will not be displayed ** To avoid register now or login