I wanted to re-look at the last few lines of "second half". We can see he changes theatre twice, from MEF to BNAF while remaining in the same unit (563) and then from BNAF to CMF while remaining in the same (new) unit My assessment is that he went from Egypt to Italy in Aug 43. I base this on the entry for an embarkation and then the later note of the entitlement to the Africa Star (ie you've just left Africa, here's your gong). (The 8th Army clasp was not instituted untillater, hence the later entry).
But again there is a sheet missing. He was overseas until Jan 1946 and demobbed in Apr 46 but "second half" ends in Sep 45 so I'd prefer not to complete the picture without the last (?) sheet.
Convoys The dates quoted for the putative convoy don't stack up with his record! He embarked on 29 MAY 1942. cpercival could perhaps tell us if this still cross checks with WS18??
maxD
Caveat - While I am pretty confident of my reading of the facts, without the war diaries of the units concerned, or other definitive proof such as the ORBAT of the 8th Army at the relevant times, I would not stand in front of a judge with this assessment of when his time in Italy began. Frustratingly, both the RLC and the RA Museums are not taking research queries at the moment, they would have been able to help with unit moves.
