I inherited from my father over 300 letters written by my grandparents to each other during WW2.
Bunty Hill
My grandfather Oliver Herbert Hill was the protective troop commander for General Harding, at the opening of the second battle of El Alamein, 7th Armoured Division, or the Desert Rats.
He was also the letter censor and so more detail is included in the letters than was probably allowed. The attached letter explains that he was commissioned by General Erskine on 23rd October 1943 to design the Desert Rat insignia, to be used on the flash of the returning soldier’s uniforms early 1944.
The letter includes a copy of the design and was sent to my grandmother, who was an aeronautical engineer in Reading:
“I was asked by the Colonel, for the General (General Erskine) to design several different types of desert rats, so that he could select the one he liked best. I painted a dozen….I then had to do this for reproduction on cloth, it only meant simplifying it as much as possible, I will draw you a rough sketch of it, one moment…… there you are, this is roughly what the flash looks like. I spent a long time on the original, with a much better finish. If you should not recognize this as a rat, remember that it is really a „Jerboa” which we nicknamed ’Desert Rat’. This sign will be worn on the right arm of all the chaps in the Div: A Brigadier from Corp is going home tomorrow, taking with him my drawing. They are being made in London. (For our homecoming?) The Colonel told me this morning that the General was very pleased with it, and thought it excellent. Now I have to paint one almost about a foot high, as thas the General wants to give it to the General Clarke, who commands the 5th Army.”
