I have typed up the story of how my father got into the war. He was an ordinary man and the war had a profounf effect on him. He would only read books (non-fiction) about the war, and clearly from what he wrote he saw a lot of action.
However, he never really wanted to talk about it in any detail, and this section is just part of his lilfe story that he wrote down for us children and his grand-children.
He died at Christmas, having suffered a massive stroke. In later years he had become quite deaf a a result of damage to his ear drums from being blown up in trenches a number of times. He had a small lump sum, about £2000 from the MOD, but no pension.
After his stroke he lived for several weeks, and was able to talk. He was convinced that he was back in the war and had been wounded, and often thought he was on the troop ship to France. I think this is because the war was the most profound, terrible, and exciting time of his life.
I wanted to post his story on this website because he was an ordinary man, like so many others, but what he lived through was extra-ordinary and we should never forget that.
Hats off to the BBC for this project, and hats off to my dad!
Judi Stabb
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