GEORGE Iceton is 97 now. His memory isn’t what it once was but Teesdale’s last DLI survivor from the Second World War can still recall glimpses of his time in France, Sicily and North Africa.
“We were stood in water for quite a while before we got out of Dunkirk – we were on the sands for a long time – about four days,” he says.
Born in Whorlton on May 26, 1920, Mr Iceton was the son of a Great War nurse and a quarryman. His formative years were spent sleeping in a chest of drawers at their small home at the entrance to Rokeby Hall before he attended Rokeby School next to the church.
He says: “My mum was a nurse and worked all over and my dad worked at the nearest quarry. She was pushing me in a pram when she saw a vacant guest house sideage at West Lodge.”
He began work aged 15 as an apprentice fitter in Darlington and his experience on Motors would come in handy when the call came.
He says: “I ran dances at the mess hall in Barney. I joined the TA (Territorial Army) on a Thursday night, I was called up on the Friday and I was at war on the Sunday.”
Mr Iceton joined B Company of the 6th Battalion of the DLI and posted to the motor transport section.
After his training in the Cotswolds, he was ordered to France in January 1940 where he drove around the 6th DLI’s second in command.
When the German advance began to overwhelm the Allies, Private Iceton was called into the counter attack at Arras. He says: “I was driving with the second in command when we found this bloke standing on a tank. We went over to see what was wrong with him and he had a tank full of wounded soldiers. So I helped put them on the truck and took them all back to the nearest medical centre which were all in different places.”
Private Iceton made several journeys ferrying the wounded around under fire before he too was caught by a bullet.
He was awarded the Military Medal for his bravery five days short of his 20th birthday – following in the footsteps of his dad, Charlie, who won the Meritorious Service Medal in the Great War. After making the trip back from Dunkirk, he was posted to the Middle East and North Africa – spending five days sleeping under the pyramids at Giza.
He fought alongside his best mate Tom Russ, who lived on Galgate, in Barnard Castle, and spent his time fixing tanks to prevent the Germans getting hold of them. He saw action at Gazala, Mareth and El Alamein before joining the 6th DLI for the invasion of Sicily in the summer of 1943.
“It was a bit of a carry on,” he says.
“The 8th DLI went in first – they got so far down the river. There were gardens all the way down with fruit trees. Then the 9th went in and had a go and then we went it and cleared it out.
“It was a lovely place.” It was in that clearing out where Mr Iceton was wounded in the leg as his battalion advanced on Primosole Bridge.
He adds: “They got me boxed up in an ambulance and I thought I was on my way home.
“But I finished up in Cairo – it was a horrible feeling as my leg was broke you see.”
Mr Iceton made his way back to Teesdale for Christmas in 1943 and did not serve overseas again.
He married Mary Snowden in July 1944 in West Yorkshire after meeting her through the NAFI.
But his time in the army didn’t stop there.
He trained tank drivers after the war on the road from Barnard Castle to Copley.
“It was ideal for teaching – all the corners and the ups and downs,” adds Mr Iceton.
He finally retired from the TA in 1964 before working for Tarmac and moved with his family to Hartlepool.
His stories are well known to his four children, seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren who join him every year for Remembrance Sunday in laying a wreath at the DLI memorial in Barnard Castle before heading over to Rokeby. His son-in-law Michael Calvert adds: “We have a little ritual and family come up from different parts of the country – it’s important.”
Mr Iceton’s stories from the war have been immortalised in tapes recorded by the Imperial War Museum in the late 1980s and were later recounted in “The Faithful Six” by Harry Moses.
To hear them all in detail, go to: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80011678
“We were stood in water for quite a while before we got out of Dunkirk – we were on the sands for a long time – about four days,” he says.
Born in Whorlton on May 26, 1920, Mr Iceton was the son of a Great War nurse and a quarryman. His formative years were spent sleeping in a chest of drawers at their small home at the entrance to Rokeby Hall before he attended Rokeby School next to the church.
He says: “My mum was a nurse and worked all over and my dad worked at the nearest quarry. She was pushing me in a pram when she saw a vacant guest house sideage at West Lodge.”
He began work aged 15 as an apprentice fitter in Darlington and his experience on Motors would come in handy when the call came.
He says: “I ran dances at the mess hall in Barney. I joined the TA (Territorial Army) on a Thursday night, I was called up on the Friday and I was at war on the Sunday.”
Mr Iceton joined B Company of the 6th Battalion of the DLI and posted to the motor transport section.
After his training in the Cotswolds, he was ordered to France in January 1940 where he drove around the 6th DLI’s second in command.
When the German advance began to overwhelm the Allies, Private Iceton was called into the counter attack at Arras. He says: “I was driving with the second in command when we found this bloke standing on a tank. We went over to see what was wrong with him and he had a tank full of wounded soldiers. So I helped put them on the truck and took them all back to the nearest medical centre which were all in different places.”
Private Iceton made several journeys ferrying the wounded around under fire before he too was caught by a bullet.
He was awarded the Military Medal for his bravery five days short of his 20th birthday – following in the footsteps of his dad, Charlie, who won the Meritorious Service Medal in the Great War. After making the trip back from Dunkirk, he was posted to the Middle East and North Africa – spending five days sleeping under the pyramids at Giza.
He fought alongside his best mate Tom Russ, who lived on Galgate, in Barnard Castle, and spent his time fixing tanks to prevent the Germans getting hold of them. He saw action at Gazala, Mareth and El Alamein before joining the 6th DLI for the invasion of Sicily in the summer of 1943.
“It was a bit of a carry on,” he says.
“The 8th DLI went in first – they got so far down the river. There were gardens all the way down with fruit trees. Then the 9th went in and had a go and then we went it and cleared it out.
“It was a lovely place.” It was in that clearing out where Mr Iceton was wounded in the leg as his battalion advanced on Primosole Bridge.
He adds: “They got me boxed up in an ambulance and I thought I was on my way home.
“But I finished up in Cairo – it was a horrible feeling as my leg was broke you see.”
Mr Iceton made his way back to Teesdale for Christmas in 1943 and did not serve overseas again.
He married Mary Snowden in July 1944 in West Yorkshire after meeting her through the NAFI.
But his time in the army didn’t stop there.
He trained tank drivers after the war on the road from Barnard Castle to Copley.
“It was ideal for teaching – all the corners and the ups and downs,” adds Mr Iceton.
He finally retired from the TA in 1964 before working for Tarmac and moved with his family to Hartlepool.
His stories are well known to his four children, seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren who join him every year for Remembrance Sunday in laying a wreath at the DLI memorial in Barnard Castle before heading over to Rokeby. His son-in-law Michael Calvert adds: “We have a little ritual and family come up from different parts of the country – it’s important.”
Mr Iceton’s stories from the war have been immortalised in tapes recorded by the Imperial War Museum in the late 1980s and were later recounted in “The Faithful Six” by Harry Moses.
To hear them all in detail, go to: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80011678
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