Fragments of my father's life

My father was an assault engineer in the 1st Airbourne Division. He fought at Arnhem and was one of the few survivors.

Although he was shot and I think this took place whilst trying to destroy a German Mark V 'Panther' tank.

He never mentioned this at all during my child hood. I only found out about these scant details when my mother mentioned it.

My father left when I was a boy and after a disasterous second marriage, sold everything, purchased a boat and tried to sail around the World. This story sounds like something penned by Patrick 'O' Brian.

After many adventures he settled in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I have since seen him a couple of times and asked him about these monumentous times, but he never says a great deal.

This has fueled a great interest for me in this period of history. I like hearing people's stories.

When you look at the statistics, the figures are incomprehensible. I try and emphasise with the people and put myself amongst all the madness that was the World then.

I would dearly love to find out more of my father's story just to find more about the man.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.