大象传媒

Nicholas Bates was twelve years of age when the second Great War began. His family stayed to fight in the war, when he was sent with his brothers and sisters to a small fishing village in Cumberland. He and his brothers and sisters help in the fishing business along side their hosts. He missed his family, but we really can鈥檛 blame him for that. At this time, Nicholas did not know what was going to happen.
Life must have been hard, I mean can you imagine being away from your family for over a year, with people you don鈥檛 know, in a school which would have been completely different to the ones you knew from home. His family were greatly missed.
Nicholas stayed in his fishing village for just over a year, until he travelled back home and lived with his family. He was overjoyed to see his parents again, and lived with them until 1944, when he was called up to the Royal Army Medical Corps.
The Royal Army Medical Corps was formed in 1898, when all other medical corps were amalgamated into one complete medial corps. The Royal Army Medical Corps has a most distinguished record both in the practice of medicine and in the gallantry displayed by its members.
One large memory that Nicholas told me about, is when he was supervising a cinema picture. He and his associates were situated to make sure the cinema was evacuated properly in the event of an emergency. One day, as they were watching over the proceedings, the air raid siren sounded.
Nicholas and his team instantly had control of the situation. They told nobody to panic, and then began the evacuation of the cinema to the shelters that were situated around the cinema. In less than ten minutes the entire place had been evacuated, and Nicholas and his team were once again being thanked for their work.
From then on, Nicholas鈥� life was filled with good works. Later on in his life, Nicholas flew to India to aid the war effort. The Indian people who he helped treated him as their captain, their leader. When the time to leave arrived, Nicholas was honored for his work.
However when he left India, he did not fly to England. He flew further round the world, to Singapore, to help the people there. Again, he was treated like a hero as he arrived, and stayed there for many years.
Eventually, after a life that had been packed with helping people in need, he returned to England. On return he came back to his family who were overjoyed to see him again.
Nicholas鈥� career reached its peak when he was awarded the British Empire medal for his services to his country. Speaking to me, he said 鈥淚t was the proudest moment of my entire life鈥�. He received the medal from the Lord Lieutenant of the Army.
Nicholas is now a resident of Sedgefield Court in Killingworth, and to this day, Nicholas remains proud of his family, his friends, everybody involved in World War Two and, most vitally of all, he is proud of himself.

Matthew Scott and Steven Gordon, both Y9 students from George Stephenson High School, Killingworth, Newcastle upon Tyne.

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