David Wadey was born on the 9th August 1918 in Slinfold, West Sussex.
Prior to war breaking out David was called up in the first intake on the 15th July 1939, reporting to the Royal Sussex Regiment depot at Roussillon Barracks, Chichester. His pay was 1s 6d (7 1/2p) a day, less a deduction to cover barrack damage.
When war was declared on the 1st September he and his fellow Militiamen were moved to Chichester race course at Goodwood and then on to Long Burton in Dorset, where he was promoted to Lance Corporal at Battalion HQ in the 4th Battalion Intelligence Section, Royal Sussex Regiment.
By January 1940 he was promoted to Sergeant and on the 8th April the battalion marched to Sherbourne railway station, which was 6 miles away, where entrained they went to France from Southampton to Cherbourg. The exploits of the 4th battalion are well covered in Col. Rod Arnold’s book The History of the Royal Sussex Regiment during the Second World War, where David and the rest of the 4th battalion found themselves withdrawing from France from around Caestre and onto Dunkirk.
March 1942 found David on a troopship to Egypt, as part of 133rd (Royal Sussex) Brigade bound for the war in the Western Desert and fighting his way through El Alamein and across North Africa. David is then transferred to the RE at the Suez Canal Zone before moving to Italy and returning to England at the end of the war.
A very happy birthday to you David from the Royal Sussex Regimental Association, we wish you well.
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