My father, Bert, was born on January 12th, in 1919, to Florence and Levi Martin, a farm worker, at White Cottages, Whitton, Suffolk. One of six children, he was a cub, scout, and server at church. Aged 13, he won a crossword competition and spent his prize money on a puppy.
He met May at Claydon High School and they married in 1941. Already conscripted, he wore his uniform for the wedding service. Four months later he was sent to war on the troopship, the Rangitiki. Captured at Tobruk, he spent 3 years as a PoW, in camps in N Africa, Italy and Germany. He was among PoWs sent in by the Germans to “clear up the mess” after the firebombing of Dresden.
He went on the run in Czechoslovakia in the final stages of the war, eventually being liberated by the US Third Army. He arrived home to his wife at their cottage in Paper Mill Lane, Claydon on May 25th, 1945. My parents went on to enjoy 45 years of marriage; my sister and I were born in 1946 and 1950.
Bert always lived in his native Suffolk. He worked first as a printer's apprentice and then as an estimator for a local firm, British Steel Piling. He loved his garden, photography, and music, playing trumpet and harmonica, baking, and supporting the local Football Club.
I remember him as a calm person with a sense of humour and fair play. He was also a methodical and meticulous person in everything he did, this very much evidenced in the diary he kept during his wartime service.
He died in 1998, aged 79, his wish to publish his diary unfulfilled; at last in 2017, it gave me great satisfaction and a sense of pride to achieve its publication. The original handwritten diary is lodged with the Second World War Experience Centre, for posterity and research purposes.
Listen to Bert's interview by IWM in their sound archive:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80005150
Find 23 reviews on Amazon of Bert's mémoirs in book/kindle format:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Till-We-Meet-Again-Gunner/dp/154404870X
https://flic.kr/p/2mWG5bo
Phil, thank you for such a nice comment.
Peter, many thanks appreciated.
Thank you for your comments. I enjoyed putting this together.
Pat, thank you so much and so glad you enjoyed the read. I thought of doing this when it got to the date for his 100th birthday but missed it - would have been 103 today!
That's really good to know that your family are passing the diary around to read, thanks for telling me, Wendy.
@susie1205 @jamibann @haskar @wendyfrost @carole_sandford @milaniet @happypat @seattlite @gardencat @phil_sandford @pcoulson