大象传媒

As I was born in 1938 I do not have many memories but the few I do have still stay with me.
I was told that my dad was a conscientious objector but he applied for his name to be removed from the Register and went into the Army and was in the Dental Corps. When he came home on leave I used to ask my mother "where has the man gone?" when he left the room. After he had been home a few days I got to like having my dad at home as he had fun with me. I would try to stumble around the room in his big army boots and I also offered to remove the "prickles" he had stuck on his chin!
When his leave was over and he had returned to the war I was distraught and cried for a long time which upset my mother. As I got older I felt a little envious of friends in my village whose fathers were still at home.
As I had grandparents in Plymouth my mother was always concerned when she could see the fires of the city blazing from our home in Cornwall.We visited them occasionally and I can remember seeing the barrage balloons over the dockyard and the ends of terraced houses where the bombs had cut right through leaving bedrooom walls exposed.
When some food and fruit became available my mother queued to get a few biscuits or some bananas. She was surprised when I ate my banana and left the "core" only ever having had apples.We had a lot of rabbit pies with "Pom" potatoes and dried eggs which seemed like rubber pancakes.At Christmas time mother made homemade sweets of mint creams which she dried on the kitchen range.
When my dad finally came home he brought with him a tin which had been used in the dental laboratory and it was filled with sweets like polo mints.We had a celebration meal of roast chicken to welcome him home.
He was awarded an oak leaf for being Mentioned in Despatches but he never divulged to any of the family what he had done to get it.His service book states Appendix "A" to Allied Force GRO No. 879 Serial 31 dated 3rd August 1945.He served with the 1st Army North African campaign,the 8th Army Sicilian campaign and the 8th Army Italian Campaign. I am very proud of my dad and feel sorry that he missed the years when my brother and I were growing up but am so grateful that he did return as so many others did not.

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