JUST after Christmas in 1940, a young soldiers' battalion of volunteers was raised in Birmingham.

It was the 70th Battalion The Royal Warwickshire Regiment and it gathered in nearly a thousand young men from all parts of the UK in just a few weeks.

Quite a number of them came from the Preston and Leyland areas.

In 1943 it was disbanded and it sent its brood to fight with the Paras at D-Day and Arnhem, others to Cassino and Anzio and the rest to Khohima and the Arakan in Burma.

Quite a lot never came back, but some of those that did came together again as old comrade.

That was 15 years ago, but now we are all approaching 80 years old and we are having one last reunion at Fort Brockhurst, in Gosport, where we were once stationed.

If there are any old comrades of the 70th Battalion Royal Warwicks living in Preston or Leyland, could they contact me at the address below.

K Lord, The Hon Sec

22 Homestead

Bamber Bridge

Preston PR5 8BA

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.