| Surname: | Day |
| Initials: | R P |
| Rank: | Warrant Officer II |
| Army Number: | 5932812812 |
| Notes: | CMP. He enlisted in to the Cambridgeshire Regimen, transferred to CMP. 8/9/48 He was awarded the 1939 - 1945 Star, Africa Star with 8 army clasp, Defence Medal, War Medal, GSM 1918 Palestine. address:- 25 Occupation Road, Walsall Wood, Walsall, Staffs. Reginal Philip Day. Extract from the Newmarket Journal 5 April 1947. NEWMARKET MAN'S DESERT PATROL. S.S.M. DAY IN ACTION. It is amazing how many Newmarket serving men have, one way and another, combined their service with a closer contact with horses. Although coming from the home of racing maybe it is not so extraordinary. This excellent action photography dispatched from the Middle East by a military observer, shows Staff Sergt - Major Reginal Day, son of Mr, and the late Mrs. Day of Arravale Cottage, Park Lane, Newmarket, one of fourteen horse under his care in the Mounted Military Police. A regular soldier, his love for horses took him to the Canal Zone of Egypt on patrols in the vicinity of the new General Headquarters, middle East Land Forces. For four years he has been in the Mounted Military Police and has taken part in patrol work in Palestine, at Jerusalem and Sarafand. To a military observer, S.S.M. Day described his duties. "Mt detachment keeps a constant security patrol in the Headquarters area and around a nearby ammunition dump. We are kept informed of any thefts of W.D property in our area and we generally recover it in a very short while. S.S.M Day finds the most profitable time to send out his patrols is in the early light. He spends much of his time visiting them for information and investigating any cases of theft reported to him. "Recently thieves broke into the laboratories in the ammunition dump an stole some valuable research instruments," he said, "By following tracks in the sand we soon located their hiding place in a wheat field not far from the canal." Most of the horses under his care are English bred, ex Cavalry horses. They take to the desert very well although they cannot be worked as hard as in England. (Article has a photograph of SSM Day on his horse charging the camera with his sword pointing at the camera.) |
Decoration Record: | |
| Decoration: | General Service Medal 1918 (London Gazette: Medal Roll WO 100/541 Page: 0143 Jan. 17, 1952) |
| Citation: | Clasp "Palestine 1945-1948". |