Craftsman Spencer, Richard

Craig Robertson

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Full NameRichard James Spencer
NicknameJimmy
Number3655833
RankCraftsman
Nationality
Date of Birth13.04.1919 Birkenhead, Cheshire, UK
Date of Death29.07.2013 Canada (Aged 94)
Gravesitecremated
Father
Mother
Enlisted20.10.1939 Liverpool
MilitaryRoyal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
Craftsman (3655833)
L.R.D.G. (S Patrol) 1943
312 Armoured Troops Workshops 1943-44
PPA (Blitz fitter) 8.1.1944
RTUd July 1944
MarriedMelva Elizabeth Mary Spencer (born 31.03.1925, died 01.01.2014)
Further Informationresided 11 Avenue, Port Alberni, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada
worked paper mill until retirement in 1984
life member Royal Canadian Legion
local school board trustee



OBITUARY:
Jim Spencer was a Canadian veteran of the Long Range Desert Group that successfully raided to the rear of Rommel’s Afrika Korps in 1942-43. Having impressed Vladimir Peniakoff with his skill in emergency motor repairs, he later transferred to the Russian émigré’s own unit: Number 1 Demolition Squadron or “Popski’s Private Army”.

During a combined LRDG/PPA patrol to find a route for Montgomery’s left hook round the Mareth Line in Tunisia, in January 1943, Peniakoff’s jeep hit a rock, ramming the sump up against the crankshaft. Spencer removed the sump, battered out the dent and sealed the cracks by soldering on a flattened-out can of sliced peaches which he had just finished eating. Peniakoff was delighted by his ingenuity.

Three days later the patrol reached the Wadi Zem Zem where the track wound through a maze of 8ft-high thorn bushes. The LRDG patrol commander, Captain Ken Lazarus, and Peniakoff went forward to investigate suspected movement, so the patrol dispersed its vehicles ready for a brew-up. Within minutes they were under fire from a German armoured patrol.

Spencer and a Rhodesian LRDG member manning 0.5-inch Browning machineguns stopped the leading armoured car and set it on fire. When the rest of the enemy column dismounted and began an enveloping movement, legging it for the wadi rim was the only option and, miraculously, almost everyone made it. The survivors began the long trek back to the Zella oasis only to be picked up by Lazarus and Peniakoff returning from their reconnaissance. A few days later a fresh patrol found the required route that was later successfully exploited.

Following the surrender of German and Italian forces in North Africa in May 1943, most of Peniakoff’s men were incorporated into either the LRDG, sent to Lebanon to train for mountain warfare, or into Lieutenant-Colonel William Stirling’s 2nd Special Air Service. Left with only a handful of desert stalwarts, Peniakoff began recruiting afresh and invited Spencer to join him for the Italian campaign.

Spencer was one of two Canadians accepted and he served with Captain Jean Caneri’s patrol throughout the long slog up the Italian peninsula and the bitter winter of 1944-45. They ended the campaign sailing their jeeps by vehicle landing craft into Venice, and Spencer recalled driving round St Mark’s Square.

Richard James Spencer was born in Birkenhead but his family emigrated to Vancouver Island. He returned to England to enlist as a vehicle mechanic soon after the outbreak of war, transferring to the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in 1942. On demobilisation he returned to Vancouver to work in the Alberni Pulp and Paper Mill until his retirement. I n later years he became a member of the Friends of Popski’s Private Army. He is survived by his wife, Melva, and one son. A daughter predeceased him.

Richard James Spencer, Special Forces REME fitter, was born on April 13, 1919. He died on July 29, 2013 aged 94

Source : https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/jim-spencer
 

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