a personal tribute
After my dad's death in 1998, I inherited 3 brown-paper-covered exercise books. Inside, in his beautiful cursive writing, was his diary account of his WW2 service, including time as a prisoner in camps in N Africa, Italy and Germany.
In 2017, a good friend and I published his story. A conscript, in his early twenties, just 4 months married, I feel my dad writes with a light touch, seeking the humanity in any situation.
Of his experience at the work camp at a cement factory in Cossebaude near Dresden :
"I think it was probably the best months I had as a PoW - in Germany - whilst I was working in the factory. You also had that sense of freedom during the day. You weren't hounded by a guard. You were put in the care of a German worker, and as worker to worker we got on reasonably well. I managed to learn German and after a time I managed to make myself understood, horrible though it my have sounded."
My royalties from the publication are donated to the Red Cross: my dad felt their food parcels sent to the camps were key to the survival of many prisoners.
Regrettably he cannot know of readers' reviews of his mémoirs:
www.amazon.co.uk/Till-We-Meet-Again-Gunner/dp/154404870X
Book £10 Kindle £4.99
a personal tribute
After my dad's death in 1998, I inherited 3 brown-paper-covered exercise books. Inside, in his beautiful cursive writing, was his diary account of his WW2 service, including time as a prisoner in camps in N Africa, Italy and Germany.
In 2017, a good friend and I published his story. A conscript, in his early twenties, just 4 months married, I feel my dad writes with a light touch, seeking the humanity in any situation.
Of his experience at the work camp at a cement factory in Cossebaude near Dresden :
"I think it was probably the best months I had as a PoW - in Germany - whilst I was working in the factory. You also had that sense of freedom during the day. You weren't hounded by a guard. You were put in the care of a German worker, and as worker to worker we got on reasonably well. I managed to learn German and after a time I managed to make myself understood, horrible though it my have sounded."
My royalties from the publication are donated to the Red Cross: my dad felt their food parcels sent to the camps were key to the survival of many prisoners.
Regrettably he cannot know of readers' reviews of his mémoirs:
www.amazon.co.uk/Till-We-Meet-Again-Gunner/dp/154404870X
Book £10 Kindle £4.99