A SECOND World War Royal Signals veteran paid his first visit to the Royal Signals Museum at Blandford Camp.

Corporal Stan Swansborough, known as Swanee, was a dispatch rider on Field Marshal Montgomery's HQ staff and served with the Royal Signals from 1943 until his return from India in 1947. He was trained on BSA motorbikes and the Jeep, transferred messages between various locations in London and the south east and was involved in the country's preparations for D-Day.

Upon arriving at the museum, 95-year-old Swanee received an honour guard with salute, before being given a tour of the museum by Nick Kendall-Carpenter, the museum's director. Along with his daughter, Jane, and granddaughter, Emily, Swanee enjoyed lunch in the Sergeant's mess, followed by a meeting with the officers and trainees from the 11 Signals Regiment.

Major Mickey Yendell provided the men with a brief summary of Swanee's military history, including his joining of the home guard at the age of 16, his enlistment into the Corps and his exploits after D-Day. The regiment closed the ceremony with a loud and rousing chorus of three cheers.

Swanee was decorated with the Legion D’honneur by the French Minister of the Interior, Bernard Cazeneuve, in 2014. His other medals include the 1939 – 1945 Star, the France & Germany Star Medals, The Defence Medal and The Victory Medal. Swanee was also recently awarded the Thank You Liberators Medal, by the Military Attaché at the Royal Dutch Embassy in London.

After the war, Swanee was posted to India where he was promoted to Corporal. He was discharged from service on his return on June 6, 1947.

The Royal Signals are the Army's professional communicators, providing the battlefield communications and information systems essential to all operations. Blandford Camp is home to the headquarters of the corps as well as the headquarters of the Defence College of Communications and Information Systems (DCCIS), the Royal School of Signals, and the Royal Signals Museum.

Since its opening in 1967, the museum has housed the national collection of military communications equipment and tells the story of the corps via a series of enlightening exhibitions, including interactive exhibitions and displays.