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ONLINE MEMORIES: A still of Mr Len Howell taken frm the video on The Northern Echo website

A SOLDIER will recall online how he cleaned tanks on Beachy Head ahead of a mysterious inspection.

Len Howell, 95, from Darlington, recounts his wartime experiences in Veterans' Stories - a Northern Echo project for Remembrance Day.

Mr Howell was a Lance Sergeant with the 31st Army Tank Brigade in England, before being posted to the Middle East for a special operations executive assignment.

He remembers spending hours cleaning tanks on the cliff tops of East Sussex, for a mystery visitor.

The visitor arrived, but did not appreciate the soldiers' efforts.

In the Middle East, Mr Howell worked at a secret wireless station near the pyramids at Giza, in Egypt.

Towards the end of war, he was seconded to the Sudan Defence Force, following the 8th Army through North Africa.

He said: "I knew the war was necessary, but when I look back, it was six years out of my life.

"I was a married man and I had a beautiful house with new furniture, and it all came to nothing.

"My wife had to go into an aircraft factory and I went into the Army - it was a long time before I saw her again."

8:56am Thursday 8th November 2007

Len Howell as a serving soldier

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