Alan Edmund Drury in the AFS and REME

The contributor brought a lot of photos of their father, Alan Edmund Drury, known as 'Ted'. He was born in 1912 and died in 2000. The photos were all taken in Africa.

In 1939, Ted joined the Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS), based in Ilford, Essex, as a driver. A photo shows him in the driving seat in this role.

In 1940, he joined the Army and was posted to Portsmouth, apparently with some sort of connection to 'fire'. He then moved to Holmfirth with his wife Joan and son Chris, pending posting overseas.

In 1941, he was posted to North Africa (Egypt, Libya and Tunisia). He was in the 9th Lancers, Eighth Army, R.E.M.E. He wrote a diary on the boat over to North Africa, which went across the North Atlantic and via South Africa to get there in order to avoid U-boats.

He was at El Alamein and then sent to Italy. He ended the war as a Sergeant and was called 'Sergente Edmundo' by the Italians. He returned to the UK in 1945 and wrote another diary on the return trip.