Page 903 - Reading Mercury

Taking a short cut through the back gardens on his way from Palmers School,
Wokingham, to see his aunt, Mrs. L. Shard, of 64, Peach Street, Wokingham, on
Friday last week, ten-years-old Christopher Saxe, of 55, Norreys Avenue,
Wokingham, found an unexploded German incendiary bomb, probably dropped on
the town in 1940 or 1941. Not realising how dangerous it might be, Christopher
proudly carried his new-found souvenir indoors to show his aunt. It was kept indoors
for a short time before Christopher returned it to the garden. When, later, Mr. Leslie
Shard returned home he noticed the bomb and on Tuesday evening notified the police.
The police were not given the exact location of the bomb, and on Wednesday
morning the gardens at the rear of the Peach Street houses, several of which are
unoccupied, were searched and the bomb was eventually found by P./Insp. G.F. Drew.
It carried the numbers AZ 8312 and 268 RS/143 K on the base, and on the side was 59
K III. Made of light alloy and outwardly undamaged, the bomb, which had steel fins,
was 14 inches long and two inches in diameter. The particulars were telephoned on
Wednesday morning to a bomb-disposal unit, stationed on Salisbury Plain, and it was
subsequently dealt with by them.

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Sat 8 March
COLORPHOTO SOCIETY
The Wokingham Colorphoto Society have now completed their first year. At their
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annual meeting to be held at St. Crispin’s School library on March 26 , the
programme will consist of, apart from the official business and election of officers,
the showing of a varied selection of colour transparencies. If the response is good the
society will endeavour to put the collection on show somewhere in the town as an
example of the work of the organisation. Mr. Robertson, an official of the society,
said that the group had become very popular and work consisted of all aspects of
colour photography.

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Sat 15 March
WOKINGHAM SOLDIER IN LIBYA
Presented With Medal By C.-in-C.
Presented with a Long Service Good Conduct Medal by the C.-in-C. Middle East
Land Forces, Lieutenant-General Sir Roger H. Bower, K.B.E., C.B. during his recent
visit to North Africa, was A.Q.M.S. Desmond Carpenter, R.E.M.E. Desmond, whose
parents, Mr. and Mrs. H. Carpenter, live at Tithe Barn Cottages, off Milton Road,
Wokingham, is living Married Quarters out in Libya with his wife, Glenys, and
daughter, Nicola.
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He is attached to the 6 Royal Tank Regiment as they serve in Italian-built barracks
at Homs. The presentation was made during the first visit of General Bower to Libya
since he assumed the appointment of C.-in-C. in January.
It was in 1939 that Desmond enlisted as a boy apprentice. He was promoted staff
sergeant in 1945 and served in Egypt and Palestine with 23 Corps Troops Workshops
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supporting 6 Airborne Division and 1 and 3 Infantry Divisions. He was attached to
the Arab Legion in 1948 and served with the Bedouin Brigade L.A.D. in the Arab-
Israel war. In 1952 Desmond was promoted W.O. II in charge of the R.E.M.E.
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attached to the Royal Malta Artillery. He was posted to the 6 Royal Tank Regiment
in August 1956.
Desmond has done half his Army service abroad. He is not the only one in the
family to have found adventure in the Army, however, for his father, Mr. Harry
Carpenter, served in the Royal Artillery for 36 years.

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