#T/250788 · Heavy Section
| Service number | #T/250788 |
|---|---|
| Patrol | Heavy Section |
| Role | Driver |
| Known as | “Happy” |
WHAT ATTESTS HIM: HIS OWN LETTERS, AND NOTHING OFFICIAL. Ian Chard, 19 September 2026, in terms: there is NO OFFICIAL SOURCE for this man, but his letters to the Secretary of the L.R.D.G. Association confirm his existence. THAT IS WORTH SAYING PLAINLY, and it qualifies what is written above. This card calls him one of the strongest of the men added on 11 September 2026 because he arrived with a service number — and a service number makes a man traceable, but it does not make him officially recorded. Nothing in the War Office record has yet been found for him. HE IS NOT THEREFORE IN DOUBT: a man who wrote to the Association about his own service is attested by himself, which is how a good deal of this roll is attested, and the Association’s correspondence is a primary source rather than a substitute for one. WHAT IS NOT CLAIMED: that the letters have been seen by this site, or that they settle anything beyond his existence — not his rank, which this card does not hold, nor his regiment, which it also does not hold. Recorded from Ian Chard, 19 September 2026, supplied by Tony Moore and entered on his instruction of the same day.
ADDED TO THIS ROLL ON 11 SEPTEMBER 2026, AND HE COMES WITH A SERVICE NUMBER, which makes him one of the two strongest of the eight men added that day. #T/250788 — the T prefix is the Royal Army Service Corps transport series, which fits a driver. He drove a 3-TON TRUCK with the HEAVY SECTION, the Group’s supply column, and JOINED ON 8 DECEMBER 1942. HE WAS WOUNDED IN ACTION AT LEROS IN 1943, which is the Aegean disaster that cost this roll more men than any other action in its history. His nickname was HAPPY. NO RANK IS ENTERED: the roll gives his duty as driver and no rank beside it, and driver is a trade rather than a rank on this roll. No regiment is given either, though the number points at the R.A.S.C. and it has NOT been entered on the strength of a number alone. If you can add anything about him and his LRDG service, please email the roll keeper. Recorded from Ian Chard’s red-line corrections to the L.R.D.G. P.S. Troopers roll of 11 September 2026 (LRDG_IanChard_Troopers_redlines_vs_roll_2026-09-11.xlsx), supplied by Tony Moore.
See him in the full roll → In collaboration withThe Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) Preservation SocietyTo add information about this man, or note a correction, please post in the Society’s Facebook Group →This page is part of the Long Range Desert Group roll of members at lrdgarchive.org. If you hold rights to anything on it and would like it credited differently, or taken down, please see Sources and Copyright. It will be dealt with promptly.
Not By Strength But By Guile