Bill Barron Hartley

Bill was a great old boy and I’ve been desperately trying to remember his name for a few years – fortunately someone posted on the RAF Wildenrath page asking if anyone remembered him!

I met Bill when he was a very old Sgt at the RIC at Wilders – I was still a 18 year old SAC.

Our Flt Sgt was Jim Stewart and if ever he gave anyone a bollocking, Bill would take them to one side and show them a dog-eared photo of a group of recruits. Bill, a Sgt Instructor at SoP, was sat in the centre with a small, goofy, big-eared AC Jim Stewart sat cross-legged, on the floor in front of Bill.

Bill enjoyed showing the photo & Jim hated the photo being shown…

Barron was Bill’s middle name and he would tell all the Germans that he was Barron Hartley – of course they took it to mean he was Baron Hartley – a joke that Bill never tired of!