大象传媒

I remember my dad telling me that when war broke out in 1939 he was only 17, and his dad who had become a sarjeant (that,s how it,s spelt on his headstone) had to call round to various houses where young men were eligable to fight for their country to tell them that they had been called up. And one woman started complaining to my granddad about her son having to go off to war saying how unfair it was, that in the end my granddad turned round to her and said "listen love, i,ve got to go home now and tell my wife that our only son has been called up" then he went on his way.

Luckily my dad survived the war but his dad was hit in the stomach by one of the guns on a ship and died 2 years after the war as a result of his injuries. He is remembered by the CWGC, and my gran was sent a scroll by the army to honour his bravery, courage and his memory. Sadly my dad passed away in 1998 but he played his part in the war. A mate of his told us that when they were stationed in ireland, they were transporting a huge 15-tons gun through a village when at the top of a hill the vehicles brakes gave out, and they started racing towards a building at the bottom of the hill. He said without a second thought my dad clambered to the side of the van, where there was literally inches between him and 15-tons of metal and managed to engage the gun brake on just in time before it crashed into the building. His mate said he should of got a medal for his bravery.My dad was in the 432 searchlight Battery, he started off as a Private then went on to be a Gunner and then a Driver, he was 17 on the 31/3/1939 he joined the Terriers in April 1939 and got called up for service in August 1939, just before D-Day he was stationed in Deal in Kent and had to drive the Guns to the coast ready for them to be loaded onto the boats.My dad was the only boy in his family he had 3 sisters but he had several uncles in the army, my mother said that there was an Edge in every theatre of war and they all survived it.

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