大象传媒

Unfortunately I never met my Grandfather Reading; however, his memory lives on with me. After punching the boss of the amunition factory that he worked at, my Grandfather joined the Sutherland Highlanders. A bit strange seeing as he was from Birmingham. However, this is immaterial. He was first trained as an infantryman and then specialised as a radio operator and signaller. However, this is not the end of his training. he then entered jump school. Yes he was to become a forward signal man and would be jumping into combat with the british army's elite parachute regiment. Weeks of training went by and he eventually earned his wings and was a qualified parachutist.

He eventually jumped into combat during Operation Market Garden. Unfortunately I am not able to tell what bridge he faught to capture; however, I am aware that he was hit by shrapnell. He was left for dead on the battle field as it was too dangerous to retrieve dead bodies. However; he managed to lift his fingers up and attract the attention of the stretcher bearers. they quickly rushed to him, gave him his shot of morphine and sent him back to the field hospital. He was evacuated and sent home. He had survived. However; the scars, both physical and mental, were left with him until the day that he died. He was never prod of what he did and would rarely ever talk about it to the family. He was a young man who had gone into combat as a willing, eager young man. He left a shadow of his former self

He was lucky, as is the rest of my family. Not a single member of the family has been killed in combat; however, my mother's uncle died shortly after returning to England from his captivity under the Japenese.

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