On 29 Jun 1942, Ted married Lillian Hunt in Blandford. She was given away by her father, the former Mayor of Blandford. Lillian was the sister of Bert Hunt, who was another member of the Scout Section.
After the war, Ted Millbank and Bert Hunt ran a chip shop in Blandford.
| Unit or location | Role | Posted from | until |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Dorset Scout Section | Scout Section Sergeant | 18 Nov 1940 | 15 Apr 1943 |
| Operation Jedburgh | SOE Agent | 29 Nov 1943 | 07 Jun 1945 |
Invoice Clerk
On enlistment Ted was sent to the Dorset Regiment’s Infantry Training Centre at Dorchester. He remained there on completion of training, being promoted Lance Corporal on 29 Mar 1940, the Corporal on 18 Sep 1940.
Ted recalled being recruited to the Scout section from the Dorset Regiment Depot at Dorchester. This was on 18 Nov 1940. On 24 Nov he was posted to Blandford, which was the Scout Section’s new base. He attended a “Course at Home Guard Demonstration School”, as Coleshill House was referred to officially, on 15 Dec 1940, most likely a Scout Dection training course. He was given intensive training in the use of explosives.
On 2 Jul 1941, he was promoted to Sergeant, possibly after a previous Sergeant left. On 29 Dec 1941 he became War Substantive Sergeant. His record entries were all signed by Lieutenant PHP Weaver, “Dorset Scout Section”. During this time he was attached to initially 3 Division Signals, the later 38 Division Signals most likely for pay and rations. On 15 April 1943 he ended his time with Auxiliary Units as the sections were being reduced in size.
After Auxiliary Units, he returned to the 4th Battalion, The Dorset Regiment. While a number of his section would go on to join the SAS, an injury meant he lost touch with the other men. He was admitted to Preston Hall EMS hospital on 14 Jul 1943, remaining there until 19 Aug, when he was transferred to 102 Medical Convalescent Depot which was in Richmond Park, Kingston-upon-Thames until 6 Oct. After this, he was sent to a reclassification centre for NCOs at Warrington in Lancashire.
He was posted for duty as an instructor at Military Establishment 65, Milton Hall, near Peterborough, from 29 Nov 1943. This was in use for training Jedburgh Teams for the forthcoming invasion. This meant that when former Auxiliary Units men were recruited to the SAS in early 1944, he was already in a role contributing to the invasion and likely trained some of the Jedburgh Teams his former comrades worked with in France. He was next posted to STS 41 at Gumley Hall, near Market Harborough in Leicestershire from 23 Sep 1944, also used as part of Jedburgh training. He finished there on 7 June 1945, proceeding to 2 Holding Battalion, 2 ITC, remaining with them until released from service on 7 Jun 1946.
Western Gazette 10 Jul 1942
Bournemouth Echo 3 Jul 2007
Letter from Ted Millbank via Ashley family
Service Record
Clive Bassett