PRESS RELEASE

New Book traces the Staffords in World War II

One of the most frequently asked questions at the popular Staffordshire Regiment Museum , on the A51 between Lichfield and Tamworth , is ‘what happened in World War II'? Many visitors have at least one relative who fought in that war and they are always keen to find out where he went and what his unit did. Until now there had been no single reference publication that provided all the answers.

At long last that gap has been filled by a 40 page booklet written by the Chairman of the Staffordshire Regiment Museum, Lieutenant Colonel Tony Scott MBE. His book traces the history of all the twenty one units from the South and North Staffords that, in one capacity or another, defended Great Britain between 1939 and 1945. It contains many photographs of the era, as well as quotes from eye-witnesses plus tables to give exact detail of who was where. It draws almost entirely on the archive held in the Museum. Highlights include Dunkirk, the airborne invasion of Sicily, Anzio, the second Chindit campaign and Arnhem and a host of less well-known incidents.

The booklet joins two other very successful publications, one dealing with ‘The Staffords in World War I' and the other giving a history of Whittington Barracks, built 126 years ago to be the depot of both South and North Staffords and today the home of the Army Training Regiment, Lichfield. Like the other booklets, the new arrival will retail for £2.50.

Tony Scott, who also wrote the Barracks Booklet, served for nearly thirty years in the Staffordshire Regiment and commanded 1 st Battalion, the Mercian Volunteers between 1980 and 1983. He has served in Ghana, Kenya, Belize and Germany, as well being an attaché in Canada and both a military and civilian executive in NATO HQ in Brussels, where he spent thirteen years in all. He is now retired and lives near Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, where he is a part-time guide.

Contact: Museum Curator-Manager Dr Erik Blackeley on 01543 43 43 95