大象传媒

Explore the 大象传媒
This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Find out more about page archiving.

15 October 2014
WW2 - People's War

大象传媒 Homepage
大象传媒 History
WW2 People's War Homepage Archive List Timeline About This Site

Contact Us

In Respect to All that Served for Our Country

by My_Father

Contributed by听
My_Father
People in story:听
Willaim James Wagstaff, Tanith Arnesen
Location of story:听
Norfolk
Background to story:听
Army
Article ID:听
A4050316
Contributed on:听
11 May 2005

As a Commando and Member of the S.A.S. They fought for Their Country. We Will Remember Them.

What can I say, my father served in the 2nd world war.
He fought for his country like many others.
He was injured, many times and carried his scars to his grave.
He was a commando, in the paratrooper鈥檚.
He was awarded the India star, Burma star, and France and Germany star, and two gongs.
He always said that his time, in the army was the best time of his life.
He had no mother of father and was brought up by Dr Bernardo鈥檚 home.
So the Army gave him a home.

He would tell many stories, to me in his later years, how he would jump out of planes,
And the man before him would fall to his death because his parachute did not open,
But still the commando鈥檚 would all jump, one after the other, taking, their life in their hands. As many did before, and many may again.

But it鈥檚 not a war story I wish to tell you, it鈥檚 about a man that kept a secret until his death bed.

My dad lay dieing, and knew he was at the end of his long life, he was one of the lucky ones, and came home, after serving his country.

He would wonder in and out of consciousness and ramble, about the war, maybe he was taken back in time, one day he seemed bright and awake, and told me a tale of him serving in the s.a.s Special Air Service, I just smiled at him and said yes dad.
But I did not believe him.
After his death, my husband and I were so worried how could we afford to berry him,
We had so little money.
So we went to the R.A.F.A Royal Air Force Association, to ask for their help.
They looked into dads records, and said yes! We can pay half to wards your father鈥檚 funeral. We were so pleased to have help from this great association.
But something bothered the man that came to see us; and said he wanted to check something out! and a week later he returned. I was told that their was a department in the army, that would gladly pay the other half of dads funeral expenses.
Why? I asked, the man looked me in the eyes and smiled, and said your father was in the Special Air Service, and they wish to play their part in honouring your father.

Tears filled my eyes as I remember the day, I thought his mind was adrift in time,

I am proud of My Father and what he did in the war, just as I am proud of all men and women that served and gave their life for us.
I often wonder how many carried their secret to the grave of belonging, to the Special Air Service.

Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.

Archive List

This story has been placed in the following categories.

Family Life Category
British Army Category
Postwar Years Category
Norfolk Category
icon for Story with photoStory with photo

Most of the content on this site is created by our users, who are members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of the 大象传媒. The 大象传媒 is not responsible for the content of any external sites referenced. In the event that you consider anything on this page to be in breach of the site's House Rules, please click here. For any other comments, please Contact Us.



About the 大象传媒 | Help | Terms of Use | Privacy & Cookies Policy