大象传媒

I am what has become known as a baby boomer, born in 1947. Consequently I am of the generation that was brought up on war stories for boys in comics and children's literature, and on simplistic heroic war films.
The stories I have contributed were mostly told me by my father, sometimes with additions by my mother, who also had one or two of her own. Neither was a natural storyteller, and they recalled small details of daily life, rather than spun narratives. Even so, I would sometimes think (though never say out loud), "Oh, here we go, the same old thing again," because what they said was always the same. Details never changed, although some would occur in the telling on a given occasion, disappear, reappear - depending, I suppose, on just what had prompted the reminiscence.
Now, of course, I regard the unchanging nature of the details as strongly suggestive of truth and accuracy, and certainly sincerity - even if, objectively, secondhand tales of this kind must fall short of a standard of outright proof.
Some years ago - probably as many as twenty years - it began to seem to me that some of these stories should be woven into a narrative that might be publishable. The idea was too ambitious, as I should perhaps have realised sooner, but I got as far as noting down headings and salient details over a short period of time as they occurred to me, and then I put the unfinished document away. That document has now prompted the stories I have put on this site. It also enabled me to check that my memory is correct. I made the notes when my parents were still living, and I asked them to confirm some of the details.
I have also included one or two stories featuring my wife's parents. My wife has seen and confirmed them.
I have never lost my interest in the Second World War, and I read about it voraciously. I hope I now have a more balanced view of it than I had as a boy, though I have also come to believe that, to succeeding generations such as my own, the myths are more important - and probably more real - than the reality, even if it could be recaptured.