Monday 14 October 2024

South Lawn Hotel, Lymington Road, Milford on Sea , SO41 0RF

Monthly Meeting

Operation Husky: The Allied Invasion of Sicily

Our speaker today is David Bickerton and his subject is Operation Husky: the WWII Invasion of Sicily.

David's original Discipline was Civil Engineering. On retiring after a long and successful career, he became fascinated with the lives his parents lived during the harrowing days of WW2.  

In addition to investigating his parents' wartime experiences he researched his ancestry. This became an all-consuming hobby and David has continued researching the ancestry of some twenty other people.

Operation Husky was the Codename for the Allied Invasion of Sicily, with the landings taking place in July 1943.  General Patton commanded the US seventh Army and General Montgomery the British Army.  Despite the terrain favouring the defenders, the campaign took just 39 days although the Allies failed to prevent the Axis evacuation across the Messina Strait.

David's interest was particularly engaged as his father commanded HMML 338 during the Sicily Landings.