It is a book that has taken me over thirty years to get to print – or to be more exact, the idea for this book started about thirty years ago. At that time, I watched the surviving soldiers from World War One slipping away, taking with them their stories. People argued with me that we had their service records, but service records were not their stories, their thoughts, their experiences, or their fears.
Slowly they all slipped away, as they disappeared from living memory into history. But the idea of capturing the stories of World War Two soldiers came into my mind, hoping to not allow history to repeat itself, which sadly, it has a habit of doing.
So, after several false starts, I began looking for and capturing the stories of World War Two Veterans. It was never practical or possible to capture them all, but I believe the veterans I had the privilege to meet and whose stories I have preserved, show the character of a generation born a century ago.
They are a generation that has seen profound change, many speak of fathers and uncles serving in The Great War. Yet hardly a generation later they were to answer the call of the country in another war.
Between them, they witnessed the North Africa campaign, Italy, D-Day and the Rhine Crossing leading to VE Day, even the concentration camps. Others were in the Far East still confronting the Japanese even after VJ Day.
But this is not a collection of war stories. They are stories of amazing people leading amazing lives. Yet, none of them regard themselves as heroes or believe they did anything special, they just did what was expected of them, for their country.
More details can be found Clicking Here