3 sept 1939.
I was a full bomadier in a artillery regt from liverpool in charge of the regimental guard, and at 11am we heard the prime minister announce that we had entered into a state of war with germany.
Of course all the troops were cheering little knowing what we were letting ourselves in for.
After a few months intensive training the regt went up to a bleak spot some where in the UK and we did a few weeks firing with live ammunition
We saw near the firing range a small group of grave-stones when one of the guns that were there earlier had a premature and exploded,
hence the graves.
By a strange stroke of fate the the same thing happened to two of our guns eighteen months later in north africa.