Bill May's memories of the Second World War
Injured at Normandy and entering Berlin and Hitler's Chancellery
By John Cheves
Bill May in his uniform
Photo from WRVS Heritage Plus Archive
Young Bill in his uniform
Photo from WRVS Heritage Plus Archive
Bill's friend outside Hitler's Chancellery in Berlin
Photo from WRVS Heritage Plus Archive
A piece of marble from the desk in Hitler's Chancellery
Photo from WRVS Heritage Plus Archive
Bill and Mary May, 2009
Photo from WRVS Heritage Plus Archive
Bill May with his war medals, 2009
Photo from WRVS Heritage Plus Archive
The images here were brought to us by Bill May (christened Henry Charles), who served with the British Army in the Second World War. The pictures were in an album of photographs mainly taken by Bill, that included on the first page, a moving memorial to a close friend he had lost in the war. Bill and his wife Mary May (nee Jarvis), recounted their memories of living through those turbulent times.
Injured at Normandy
Bill May joined the TA in 1938, aged 19 and went on to serve with the Royal Fusilliers. He was one of the brave souls who took part in the D-Day landings, landing on Gold beach. He got as far as the sea wall, when he recieved a head injury from a nearby shell. If he hadn't happened to be leaning down to light a cigarette at the moment the shell went off, he would almost certainly have been killed. Bill was rescued by some American soldiers and was later taken to Plymouth Hospital, where the American medic who operated on him told him he'd been "goddam lucky". However this injury caused Bill severe headaches that he suffered from for many years.
Lucky escapes
After some time recovering, Bill joined a unit that handled transport and later served with the Second Devons, which pleased his grandfather greatly, being a Devonshire man himself. Bill travelled through Belgium to Holland and on to Germany at the close of the war. He remembers the Dutch people as being very generous and kind to the British soldiers, offering them boiled eggs as they drove past. During this time Bill narrowly escaped death on a number of occassions. Once when receiving treatment at a dental surgery in Holland, Bill was told to take a walk outside while his tooth went numb, and in the meantime the surgery was hit by a shell. The dentist and all the patients inside were killed. Another time, Bill's trench received a direct hit when he wasn't in it.
The fall of Berlin
Bill entered Berlin soon after it had fallen and spent nearly two years there. He entered Hitler's headquarters in Berlin, the Chancellery, soon after the Russians. The Russian soldiers had destroyed much of the building and Bill showed us a piece of marble that came from the building that he told us was a part of Hitler's desk.
Homecoming
When Bill returned from Germany he came through customs with a P38 and a Luger pistol tucked into his trousers. Bill and Mary were married in June 1947. They had only met three times before they were wed, though they have now been married for over 60 years!
It was a pleasure to meet Bill and his family and we are very grateful to them for sharing their memories and photographs with us.