大象传媒

My granddad was in the Royal Signals from 1939-46 he served most of his time in the army in Burma.
He was just 18 years of age when he joined up he did his training in Catterick in Yorkshire. Then was sent with his division the Royal Signals to Burma.
There he grew from a young boy into a man. The conditions in Burma were bad. There would be incredible heat one day and perhaps a monsoon the next.
He described to me "the Japanese were like ants running towards me over the hills as there were so many of them". The Japanese would play the waiting game jumping down from trees to surprise the allies, making animal noises hoping the Brits would respond so they could find where they were then attack them.
He had a near miss in Burma, I'm not sure how far into the war it was, but he got a bullet shot at his head and it narrowly missed, making a whole in his army hat that he had to wear as part of his uniform, for years after that he kept that bullet on a key ring.
My granddad also whilst serving in the army became quite fearful of water, because one night when his company had to cross a river around ten of the men he served with drowned because they were pulled under because of the terrible under current in the river they were crossing.
My granddad Fred after his time in the army never claimed his medals, I could never under stand why when I was younger may be it was because he did not feel he deserved them because he was alive and had been allowed to continue his life after the war whilst so many others did not get given that chance.
He was a fantastic man, a brilliant dad and a devoted granddad, I only wish a national recollection of WW2 had been done earlier so that it would not be me recollected a few facts that he told me but actually him telling his story.

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