GRAHAM STEVENSON TROOPER
“A SHOT HIT THE DRIVING SPROCKET, AND IF I HAD BEEN A BIT CLOSER IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN MY LEGS OFF”
Graham Stevenson lied about his age to join the British Army. A native of Walsall, he joined the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry in Egypt and first served in M3 Grant tanks, before primarily fighting in M4 Sherman tanks between the ages of 17-19. As a member of the British Eighth Army, Stevenson fought at the Second Battle of El Alamein in late 1942 and pushed westwards across North Africa against Axis forces.
At the Battle of the Mareth Line, the Sherwood Rangers took part in a successful outflanking manoeuvre at the Tebega Gap against German positions. Stevenson would go on to participate in the liberation of Tunis and was later severely wounded while fighting in Normandy in July 1944.
AN UNDERAGE SOLDIER
How did you join the British Army?
My brother had been called up and I was working in an office, but I went into town where there was a recruitment centre. I was told to go to Birmingham, so I got the bus and found the place.
In Birmingham, the recruiter said, “What do you want? You’re no good, how old are you?” I said 19, but he said, “You don’t look 19 to me. Come back with your birth certificate.” That got to me because I was two
