大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War web-site by Martyn Bradley on behalf of my Grandfather Stanley Curley.

I can remember a story told to me by my grandfather who was in the Royal Air Forces Search & Rescue patrols operating in the Far East. He told me some of his most favourite & horrible memories were made during the war.

He said his best memory of the war was being shipped out to the Far East on a converted luxury liner & travelling through the Mediterranean & Suez Canal. He said he saw sights that a young working class lad from Manchester had never expected to see. The colour of the sky & sea were clearer than he thought possible & the landscapes and different foods available at the various ports that the liner docked at were incredible. He showed me pictures of him & friends at tropical beaches & waterfalls not too unlike holiday photos of me & my friends today. Even while at his destination surrounded by incredible violence he remembered many pleasant memories. He quickly climbed the ranks & became Sergeant, responsible for a small number of speedboats used to rescue downed pilots. He remembered riding around in powerful speedboats top-off, sporting his new dark bronze tan.

His darker memories were of contact with the enemy & having to due his duty. Later during the war was captured by Japanese sympathisers & taken up into the mountains for some months. He was later beaten & left for dead, until an allied patrol found him & rescued him. On returning to base he spent time in hospital suffering with depression.

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