大象传媒

WW2 continues to have a fascination: I was born 6 days after the outbreak of war, lost my father at Dunkirk only months later (he probably never saw me) and was evacuated to Yorkshire after my mother had contracted shell shock due to bomb blasts on the oil depots at Canvey Island. We lived in Hornsea which was frequently overflown by Luftwaffe bombers on missions to Hull and industrial cities further west. The searchlight base just a mile away would pick out these planes to assist anti-aircraft gunnery sites elsewhere.
My boyhood was difficult in many ways due to my mother's condition and enforced dependance on State income. Despite this background I was able to benefit from a good State education up to sixth form at Bridlington Grammar School.
The war was a mixed experience of ups and downs which turned out well in the end. But I still wonder about my father: What kind of a character was he, what were his values, what might we have done together had we co-existed and would I have been a better person for knowing him?