| Description | Includes the soldier's release book of Harold William Hardeman, Service No. 3060276, of the 7th Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment (1940-1946), together with two mounted photographs, annotated with names, of officers and soldiers of B Company taken in India (circa. 1940-1946), a map of Asia drawn in pencil on tracing paper by Harold William Hardeman (n.d.), showing the places that he served between 1940 and 1946, and a newspaper article, titled 'The Forgotten Army arrives home from the Far East' in November 1945 (27 August 2009). The article includes a photograph of a troop ship and mentions two ships, Winchester Castle and Strathmore, and it is possible that Harold William Hardeman travelled on the Strathmore. Accompanied by a transcript of a audio cassette tape recording the experiences of Harold William Hardeman in India and Burma during the Second World War, as well as his return to England, recorded around 1990, and transcribed up by his son, Robert Hardeman for Rotherham Archives (2023).
Harold William Hardeman was born in Mexbrough in 1917. He married his wife, Dorothy (nee Ashton) in 1940, and went on to serve with the 7th Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment in India and then Burma from 1940 to 1946. He died on 11 November 2001. |