大象传媒

My Dad, George Gardner, was a 56 year old Navy pensioner in 1941 who had fought with the Dover patrol (which was destroyers) during World War One. He was considered too old to reenlist. However, when my family learned of the death of my elder brother Ron in the submarine service, my dad would not be stopped re-enlisting and went to Portsmouth to do so on the same day. He was accepted and served the duration of the war. He was actually drafted to minesweepers but due to an old shipmate in the drafting office he was reclassified to a training station. He said to me "I'm too old to survive in the water in the North Sea".
My younger brother, Jack, much against his wishes, served in the Royal Artillery and apart from a neck wound from a doodlebug , survived the war. A really reluctant soldier.
My Mother never got over the death of my brother Ron- her first son.

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