My Grandad, Sargent Sydney Oldroyd, fought in the Tank Corps also known as the 'Desert Rats' for my family's freedom. The democratic ways we take for granted were on the edge of being overturned by the Nazis. Thank you Sydney and all those who defended our freedom from the rise of fascism. It was and remains beyond important. The photo above shows Sydney Oldroyd in Palestine WW2 (via Stuart Bailey). We have pictures of my Son Billy when young sticking his tongue out just like his Great Grandad above (see at the bottom of this page).
Sydney got injured and spent some time in the Middle East convalescing. Some of our family photos below, that I have recently scanned, show him on the coastal edge of the Middle East. Where I don't know exactly. After hospital he redeployed as a Tank Corps Instructor (I have recently scanned family photos of these days too; they are very evocative). Grandad came home to Yorkshire but suffered from bad headaches and depression and eventually took his own life at the age of 44; we think he suffered from what we now call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Sydney died the year I was born so I never knew him but he did get to see me. He used to go out drinking with my Dad. Once, Mum tells me, we were round at Mum's Gran's and Sydney was eating sausages and mash there. He stuck a fork in a sausage and started to pass it over to me saying "here lad, get that down you". Mum said quickly "no Dad, John can't eat that"! As a young lad I once came across his old wallet, which had pictures of people put to death by hanging. Mum, maiden name Jean Oldroyd, later explained to me that they were collaborators and Sydney carried them to remind himself that "he had seen things that no man should ever see". I would not have some of the photos below if it were not for Mum's Cousin: Stuart Bailey. And, Uncle Bill Oldroyd, who left us some years ago, told me some important stories about Grandad.
Grandad, I do this to honor you and all those that served. John.
Postscript (13/11/2022): I posted a summary of this blog post on Facebook. Mum's cousins commented as follows:
Stuart Bailey: "Brilliant John, your grandfather Sydney ( my mothers brother ) was from a child’s perspective a fantastic person. My twin sister and I were so lucky to have him as our uncle. xxx"
Sandra Noonan: "Lovely uncle drew pictures of tanks for us always had time for "the twinis" as he called us xx"
Looks like Sydney 3rd from right back row, I am assuming this is the hospital somewhere in the Far East
Handwritten on the back: "Steady Boy!""
Handwritten on the back: "Oh, taking snaps eh!"
Handwritten on the back: "bad tempered"
Via Stuart Bailey
Sydney, my grandfather is the one 'driving' the bike, taken in WW2, via Stuart Bailey
Sydney Oldroyd, Army second from the left back row 1945, via Stuart Bailey
In Jan 2015 Meghan, the Daughter, had being doing memories of Sydney Oldroyd, her Great Grandad, for her School art work, great effort on a life size drawing for local art competition (with tongue out).
As mentioned above, we have pictures of my Son Billy when young sticking his tongue out just like his Great Grandad (see below). Also see the more recent photo below of Billy and my daughter Meghan from a few yeas ago.
(Navigation tip: each pic enlarges to a better quality when you click/tap on it, you should then be able to step through the photos using arrow to the right/left of the photo.)
