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Lance Corporal Lawrence Williamson, known as Lorry (or Laurie) to his friends and family, served in the Royal Signals Corps from the 23rd of October 1939, until the 29th of April 1946, eventually rising to the rank of Corporal, though he was later demoted for unknown reasons, though he said that it wasn't his fault. He didn't see very much direct frontline combat, coming into France weeks after the D-day landings. His job was operating a radio in a truck for the 6th Armoured Division. After the war, he brought back many items and photographs, which may seem mundane to some, but are incredible for finding out the true life of a soldier when the majority of information about the war is the general movements of whole armies. He would very often talk about the war, to the point that he would end up telling the same stories several times over. "I reckon he enjoyed his time in the war", my grandmother said about Laurie.
Information
Name: Lawrence Williamson
Nicknames: Lorry
Rank (end of service): Lance Corporal
Unit/Corps: Royal Signals
Regiment(s): 6th Armoured Division
Relation to me: Great Grandfather
Picture(s):
Football and the Royal Signals
Soldiers needed something to do in their spare time, for the Royal Signals in 1941, that spare time was spent playing football in competitions, Laurie's squadren was no different, in fact, they were very good at it.
While searching for information, I discovered The Wire, a magazine run by the Royal Corps of Signals, many archived editions of which are available for free viewing on the Royal Signals museum website. In this magazine, I searched for any mention of Laurie. On many editions, I found a mention of a Corporal/Lance Corporal Williamson, but one of these stood out from the rest. In the 1941 issue of The Wire, there is a part about No.1 Section of No.1 Company A.A. Signals, North-East-England winning the Cup For Soccer
An Interesting Discovery
While doing research on Laurie's experience in the British Army, I found that there is no official (or unofficial) record of any 6th Armoured Division activity in France or Germany until 1951, after Laurie had left the army. However, in the images (many of which can be found in the Gallery) soldiers, including Laurie himself, can be seen with the 6th Armoured Division insignia on their sleeve, but no chevrons on the lower part of the sleeve (used to indicate how long a soldier has been overseas) indicating that the photographs were taken before, or more likely during, 1944. The most obvious view of this is the image below, in which the 6th Armoured Division insignia is very clear, and there are two sets of battledress, neither of which have any chevrons, so the picture would have most likely been taken in 1944
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