The story behind the framed photograph and medals.

Alan Scott, Chairman of the St Ives branch of the Royal British Legion tells the story of Bertie Phillips James who landed on the beaches at D-Day, took part in the liberation of France and later became Mayor of St Ives. You can listen to any of the 4 podcasts where Alan talks about Bertie’s life or read the story further down the page .

Bertie 01 – from Wales to D-Day

Bertie 02 – Liberating Caen – Arremanche – POW care

Bertie 03 – Demobbed – Mayor of St Ives – Last train from St Ives

Bertie 04 – returning to Normandy – Remembering the fallen – Charity work

 

Bertie Phillips James was born and raised in South Wales. The outbreak of WW2 saw him working as a mechanic in a garage in Swansea. In 1940, Bertie was called up for war service in the King’s Own South Wales Borderers but, almost as soon as he started basic training, the army discovered that he could drive cars and trucks. At that time the army was desperately short of drivers, so Bertie was immediately transferred to the Royal Army Service Corps as a driver.
Bertie moved around the UK until, in 1942, when he was a member of No 422 General Transport Company, his unit was posted to Somersham. While in Somersham, Bertie met a local girl, Dorothy Lowe, and romance blossomed. In June 1944, without warning, the troops suddenly left Somersham – the local population had no idea where they had gone and the troops themselves didn’t know where they were going but, on 4th June, Bertie boarded a landing craft in Portsmouth. On 6th June, D-Day, Bertie and his companions landed on Sword beach near Ouistreham in Normandy. Bertie was driving a large lorry carrying bridging equipment that might have been needed if the para-troops, who had landed hours earlier had failed to capture certain bridges intact.
One of Bertie’s tasks, on the evening of that first day, was to form a burial party for 39 of his comrades, who had been killed in action; a task that haunted him into his old age. The battle of Normandy was fierce, and Bertie was in the thick of it, ferrying troops, equipment, food, fuel and ammunition from the beaches to the front line and returning with wounded soldiers and prisoners of war. Once, he had to travel to the town of Arromanches, further along the coast, to collect an RAF unit that had just landed on the famous Mulberry Harbour. To Bertie’s great surprise, one of the first airmen to come ashore was his younger brother, Roy, who he had not seen for two years.
Bertie’s unit was one of the first to enter the city of Caen. The invasion plans had envisioned that Caen would be liberated within the first few days of the invasion, but the city was not finally taken until 6th August 1944. The German defence of the city had been fierce, and the city had been heavily bombarded by British and Canadian forces so that, by the time it was finally taken, Caen was in ruins and many civilians had been killed, injured or made homeless. Bertie later said that they were certainly not welcomed as liberators and some of the local population was openly hostile to them. The devastation and suffering that he saw in Caen had a profound impact on Bertie.
Bertie’s unit advanced through northern France, liberating Calais on the way and on into Belgium. Bertie was in Antwerp when a V2 rocket hit a packed cinema in December 1944 killing over 200 off duty allied servicemen – another traumatic event that had a profound effect on him. VE day, 1945 saw Bertie in Brussels, where he was helping to repatriate British prisoners who had been liberated from German POW camps. Most of the liberated prisoners were seriously malnourished and some had serious illnesses caused by the harsh conditions they had been held in. Bertie said that one of their tasks was to try to “fatten them up a bit” before they were sent home to their families.
Bertie was demobilised from the army in 1946 in Lille, France. He was given a suit of civilian clothes, all the pay he was owed and a rail ticket to anywhere he wanted to go in the UK. Bertie chose Somersham! Bertie and Dot were married in November 1946 and went to live in Swansea, where Bertie found work in his family’s grocery business but life in Wales was hard at that time and in 1948, Bertie and Dot returned to St Ives, where he found work with the English Chicory company. Bertie became involved in local politics and was elected to St Ives Borough Council where he fought to provide more housing for working families. He was elected mayor of St Ives in 1970/71 and later became a member of Huntingdonshire District Council and St Ives Town Council. Bertie was always deeply concerned about housing for families and fought to provide more decent homes for working families. He organised charity dances and raised many thousands of pounds for older people’s and youth organisations in and around St Ives.
Like many former soldiers, Bertie didn’t talk much about his wartime experiences for many years, until, in 2003, he said he would like to go back to Normandy. With Dot and his daughter and son-in-law, Bertie revisited the beach where he landed and many of the other places he had fought at, including the city of Caen. He made an emotional visit to a commonwealth war cemetery, where he paid his respects to some of his comrades who had not returned home.
Bertie passed away in 2013 at the age of 92; an ordinary man who, like many others lived through extraordinary times.