FOSTER, Bill (#265)
#265
Bombardier Bill FOSTER
British Army
Alan Pollock’s Rough Notes:
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866550 Bombardier Bill FOSTER of the 57th Wessex HAA Regiment ROYAL ARTILLERY and the 214 SOUTHSEA BATTERY signs for the key role under threat of GERMAN INVASION of the HEAVY ANTI AIRCRAFT REGIMENTS. Surprisingly the roots of this unit when re-embodied in 1939 went back to 5 May, 1860 ‘when the Corps of Artillery Volunteers (Garrison) was formed to protect the Roval Dockyards from invasion and then through its 2nd Hampshire Artillery and Garrison Volunteers becoming 1st Wessex Royal Field Artillery for South Africa and in 1916 RA against the Turks in the Middle East in Dec 1916.
His war service though does not just incorporate here the role of his unit during the BATTLE of BRITAIN in 1940 and the BLITZ of 1940-1941 but their subsequent move out to join the Desert EIGHTH ARMY right through to SALERNO.