Meet the Family (Part 8)

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I left Part 7 just as the Second World War started, Dad was 19 years old at the time and was keen to serve his country so he enrolled for service along with my Uncle Arthur (married to my dad's older sister, Beryl) and my Uncle Fred (who was married to Dad's younger sister Vera). My dad's oldest sister, Stella, was married to my Uncle Stanley but as he worked on a farm, he was in a reserve occupation so didn't have to fight. Dad wanted to go into the Royal Marines but he was told he wasn't tall enough as he had to be 6' and Dad was only 5'10' so he was steered towards joining the army which he did. Likewise, Uncle Fred wanted to join the Royal Navy but again was steered into the army. Uncle Arthur found himself in the Parachute Regiment. Dad was sent to Aldershot to train and soon made friends with a man from Bristol, Frank. Frank was married to a wren (she was in the Women's Royal Navy). Strangely, Dad remained friends with both Frank and Vicky throughout the war but then, sadly they lost touch ... but that's not the end of that part of the story. It turned out that Dad was a crack shot so he was placed as security for a well known general. (General D) In the middle of 1941 he was sent to Iceland, along with General D. He had absolutely no idea why they were sent there but he does remember that they spent hours trying to make an air strip and, before long, the USAAF arrived on the island. This turned out to be a bit of a godsend for Dad as, shortly after the Americans arrived, he developed severe food poisoning and, if it hadn't been for the USAAF he may well have died. Dad was getting worse and worse and one of the American officers told General D that they were going to be flying over to France and said they'd drop him off in the UK. Dad was unconscious when he arrived back in the UK but he found himself in a hospital just outside Abergavenny in Wales. He spent quite a while there and got to meet Rudolph Hess, one of Hitler's henchmen. Hess had flown over 'to try to make peace' but had found himself off course and had landed in Scotland and had somehow come to be imprisoned in the Abergavenny hospital. Dad said that Hitler had insisted that Hess had come of his own accord and had deserted the Nazi party but, whenever the hospital got hold of news reels, Hess had insisted on sitting in the room with the British military and whenever anything on the reel made Hitler look incompetent, Hess would keep scraping his chair on the wooden floor and coughing loudly. There was no doubt in Dad's mind that Hess was a Nazi through and through. While Dad had been in Iceland my poor Granny hadn't heard a word from him as the mission was secret but Granny later told me that every now and again she'd get a note from the army just stating 'your son is well'. Once Dad had recovered he then went over to France with General D and met up with Frank once again. General D often sent Dad back to London to take documents to the government and on one occasion, Frank had some time off so General D suggested they take his car and go back together. On the way back they hit a deer that ran out in front of the car. It died instantly and Frank got out of the car to move it to the side but Dad suggested that, as there was rationing at home, they should load it into the boot of the car and take it back with them. As it was summer you can probably imagine what it smelled like by the time they'd got it from France to England! However, when they got to London, they found a restaurant that was happy to take it, they paid Dad a sum of money for it which Dad used to buy a decent hotel room for himself and Frank. They weren't due to go back for a week and enjoyed their time in London but Dad did get a bit annoyed at being woken every night by the Luftwaffe flying over dropping bombs. On the last night before they were due to return to France, the Luftwaffe flew over and Frank picked up his bag and told Dad they'd better go down to the basement but Dad told him that he'd rather die in his bed so they both stayed in their room which, apparently was on the top floor and had a glass domed roof. Typically, on this particular night, one of the bombs dropped nearby and Dad told me that the dome just collapsed and left him and Frank surrounded in shards of glass. Frank and Dad put on their boots, picked up their bags and decided they'd better go downstairs to check everyone was alright . As they left their room and looked across the landing they could see a large electric wall clock which had come off the wall and was just spinning round and round in circles on its wire. Thankfully nobody was hurt and Dad and Frank returned to France none the worse for wear. Their wartime escapades, however, don't end here so just wait for Part 9.