Major Gardner's War
Thomas Hassall Gardner was born in 1918 and raised in Staffordshire. He started working for Stoke & Co (Tanners) in 1935 shortly before the out break of WW2.
He joined The Staffordshire Yeomanry in April 1939 a Territorial Regiment on mobilisation was still mounted on horseback. The Yeomanry and their horses deployed overseas to the Middle East in 1940, as they had deployed for WW1. Tom Gardner was a keen amateur photographer who took his camera and a supply of film to war with him.
His wartime service encompassed operations in Palestine, Egypt (El Alamein) France (D Day) Holland (crossing the Rhine). He was wounded twice November 1942 and June 1944. In March 1945 he was Mentioned in Dispatches (MID). In Jan 1946 he received the MBE for his war service in NW Europe. October 1945 Tom Gardner married Suzanne Rosemary Dixon and they settled down to married life in Staffordshire.
Post WW2 Tom continued to serve with and support The Staffordshire Yeomanry; he was also a Magistrate and the High Sherriff of Staffordshire. Passing away in 1991 at the age of 73.
