'Kitted out for civilian life'

I served from September 9th 1940 until the end of April 1946 when I was finally discharged as a soldier. When everybody left the army we were all given a suit of clothes. You could have a pinstripe, or a tweed or something like that. A pair of shoes and two shirts I think. A choice of hats, a cap or a trilby hat. All supplied by a depot - we were to be ‘kitted out for civilian life’ and that’s what happened.

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Becky Barugh of the BBC Radio Shropshire CSV Action Desk on behalf of Herbert Lewis and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

See more of Herbert's stories:

• A long sort of sock
• ”All genuine tickets please”
• All sorts
• I had to sit on the front of the tank
• Shropshire during the war
• My only night in a shelter
• Riding a horse up the steps
• It seemed a bit of a silly thing to have to do
• The first of the V1’s
• There was always plenty of cheese
• We weren’t told…

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