大象传媒

Being born in 1944, I really don't remember the Second World War. However, as I grew up there were family stories to which I listened with great interest.
My father, David McKelvie Nelson, in his infinite wisdom, decided he didn't want to become a soldier - 'too much walking' he used to say. So he went along to enlist in the Royal Air Force in Glasgow with his great friend Joe Cunningham.
They were a pair of lovable rogues and got up to all sorts of antics during the war, which included driving vehicles to go on their 'drinking trips'!.
Dad's Call-Up papers for the Army arrived just after he had enlisted, but I'm not clear what the outcome of that was.
In June 1940 he and my mother were to be married, but it had to be postponed as Dad had been hospitalised due to an outcrop of boils on his neck; their marriage eventually took place on October 23 1940.
Dad was posted (with Joe - I don't know how they managed to stay together!) to several different stations around the UK as ground crew. He had a perforated ear drum so was not allowed to fly - I think he secretly wanted to be a gunner or even a pilot!
He never spoke much about what he did in the War, except to tell tales of his and Joe's 'adventures' which, sadly I can't recall in detail.
However, one thing he did reiterate was that he never went overseas, he remained 'safely' in the UK.
When Dad died in 1995, being the only child, I had to clear his house and among his belongings were his old RAF book and papers.
I am still trying to research his Squadron, but his book told of three trips overseas - France, Egypt and Italy! This made me wonder if one of those trips was the real reason why he and my mother had to postpone their wedding!
Also, Dad was mentioned in despatches twice for rescuing pilots from burning planes.
None of these things were ever mentioned by my father after the war.
Unfortunately, Dad liked a drink and after my mother died he hit the bottle really hard and his excuse, reason or whatever, was always that he was a weak man and without mother's control the bottle took hold of him as he tried to blot out what he had seen in the war.
But he still neven mentioned what it was that he had seen. His book, however, told the story of my father's war.

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