Further Recollections by Ron Muggleton

Lewis Muggleton’s son, Ron, takes a second look at his father’s wartime history:

1660107 LAC Lewis George Muggleton was conscripted into the Royal Air Force on 29th July 1942 and after being kitted out at Penarth and completing his basic training at No. 15 Recruit Training, RAF Squiresgate, Blackpool, he was posted as an Aircraftman, Aircraft Hand, General Duties (ACHGD) to No. 653 Squadron at Old Sarum on 15th September 1942.  It is known that 653 Squadron moved from Old Sarum to RAF Penshurst in Kent in September 1942 and so he was probably at that Station for a matter of only a few days.

From Penshurst he was posted w.e.f 11th February 1944 to 21 BDW, (Base Defence Wing) not to GCI 15082, RAF Church Fenton where No. 21 Base Defence Wing had come into being as of 1st January 1944.  Nothing whatsoever is known about what he actually did as a ACHGD but it was nothing to do with any aspect of Radar and was in all probability a succession of rather mundane roles.

I knew nothing about this part of his Royal Air Force Service because he never spoke about it, although I had known from as far back as I can remember that he had been in the RAF in World War Two and had served in Belgium, (Ghent and Blankenburg) and had been involved in the Ardennes Offensive.

He was in his late 60s when, out of the blue, he told me that he had landed in Normandy on the evening of D-Day with 21 Sector which was a Mobile Radar Unit.  This was a truly jaw-dropping moment.  He then went on to tell me that he had been at RAF Church Fenton where the CO was a Group Captain Mosely, or Mobsby or similar, (it was in fact Moseby); that he had travelled in convoy from Church Fenton via Lutterworth, in Leicestershire, (where they stayed overnight), on to Sopley in the New Forest en route to Normandy.  In passing, the route to Lutterworth would have taken him to within 2 miles of where my mother was living with her parents in South Wigston, Leicestershire, but he would not have been able to see her, something which was no doubt extremely frustrating for him.

From what is shown in his Certificate of Service and Discharge booklet, it seems that he may not have been intended to go to Normandy until around 22nd June, possibly with the rest of the headquarters staff but it has been amended to show that he did, in fact, go on D-Day.  That being so, it seems very likely that he will have received no wet-shod training or other specialist training in order to better prepare him.  Official records indicate that there were others who were added at the last minute, notably the very recently married Medical Officer, Flight Lieutenant Rycroft, and possibly the Padre, Squadron Leader (Rev) Harding plus others.

He said absolutely nothing about the landing, perhaps unsurprisingly given what happened to the Unit, but he did say that he spent a long time on a landing craft. He did mention Sainte-Mère-Église as though he had actually been there and that he stayed under canvas in the grounds of a chateau.  This would almost certainly have been Tocqueville Chateau which was taken over as Headquarters.

He told me that 21 Sector were in support of the Americans until such time as the airfield at Cherbourg was taken, at which point the Sector returned to RAF Ibsley in Hampshire.  Most of the tiny amount he did tell me is more or less accurate, with the possible exception of the information about Cherbourg airfield which receives no mention in the 21 Sector Operations Record Book.

The only other event of interest was that he mentioned, again in passing and with nothing in the way of any detail, that he watched the Liberation Parade in Paris.  We know that there were two such parades, the first by the Free French and the second by the Americans 2 days later.  It is not known which of these it was that he watched.  However, what is known, is that GCI 15082 was instructed to pack up with all possible speed and proceed at 0700 hours on 24th August 1944 to Paris where they would be providing radar coverage in defence of the city against German air attacks – see footnote for citation.  They were prevented from entering central Paris by the French Resistance who were insisting that the approaching Free French Armoured Division would be the first Allied troops to enter Paris.  This was something which seemed to irk my father.  That he was in Paris at this time is indicative of him accompanying GCI 15082 on a somewhat special mission, yet again, despite him not being on the strength of that MRU but on the strength of 21 Base Defence Sector.

When 21 Sector was returned to England in late September, my father returned with them to RAF Ibsley. 

When he returned to England in September 1944 with 21 Sector, he mentioned that he was taken to task by a ‘discipline NCO’ about his uniform.  At the time I assumed that it was perhaps a button undone or missing or just for being scruffy.  It was not until I found out that the Americans had supplied GI uniforms to 21 Sector just after the landing on Omaha beach to avoid US troops mistaking them for Germans in field grey, that I realised that it was possible that my father and his mates took the opportunity to show off in these GI uniforms at RAF Ibsley; something which would not have gone down well with the officers and NCOs based there!

He was not posted away for some time once the establishment for 21 Sector was cancelled on 11th November 1944 but eventually moved, on posting on 2nd December 1944, to the Base Personnel Centre in Belgium.  This posting coincided with General von Rundstedt’s offensive in the Ardennes, popularly known as ‘The Battle of the Bulge’, (which took place between 16th December 1944 and 25th January 1945) which caught the Allies by surprise.  He told me, very briefly, that he was involved in ferrying supplies etc to the American troops, and he also told my brother that he ‘lost some good mates there’. 

On 26th December 1944, his annual assessment is shown as VG (Very Good) under the heading ‘Character’ and ‘Supr’ (Superior) under the column headed ‘Proficiency’.  It would seem to have been an assessment not only of his performance during the Battle of the Bulge but also of his part in 21 Sector’s role during Operation Overlord.

He was posted on 9th January 1945 to 85 Group Police Unit with which he stayed until his discharge on 12th December 1945. 

He was discharged from Class ‘G’ Reserve on 30th June 1959.

Footnote – “Odds Against at Longchamps” by Sergeant Leonard Owens of Mobile Signals Unit 5285G.