What did you do in the War, Daddy?

If I remember it correctly, today's BBC news alleged that there is a body of opinion that says that wearing a poppy is a sign of blind right-wing support of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Whether that bizarre idea is fact or not, I thought I'd just post a note of why I 'wear my poppy with pride'.

The literal answer to the question above is, 'not a lot.'  Being a farm worker, and therefore in a reserved occupation, my father's wartime experience was limited to the Home Guard.  While that didn't make me any less proud of him, I did have two uncles who saw active service in the Royal Norfolk Regt.  One became an uncle through later marrying my mother's sister.  He served in India, and was sent home because of illness.  During his convalescence, he learned to embroider, and our homes were decorated with some beautiful examples of his handiwork.

The other was an uncle by birth, being my mother's brother.  He was captured at the fall of Singapore in February 1942, and died of malaria on the Burma railway eighteen terrible months later.  Some adults find it awkward to speak of death to children, and this was possibly even more the case in former ages.  However, I can't recall ever being unaware of his existence and his death.  Perhaps - as I have lately come to realise - because my mother was so close to him, she felt it natural to speak of him as I was growing up.  She often said that I resembled him - and that, too, I can now confirm as I plough through the photo albums I have inherited.

Then, early during my family history investigations, I came across a first cousin who died while serving in the RAF.  It was only in the last few years, however, that I discovered the circumstances of his death.  He was with an Operational Training Unit in Derbyshire, and volunteered to be included in a flight of four Albemarles who were transferred to a base in Berkshire to be part of the Allied Expeditionary Air Force in action in conjunction with the D-Day landings.  A group of 147 planes, a mixture of C-47 Skytrains, Dakotas, Albemarles and Halifaxes, took off on the night of 5th June 1944 to tow gliders across the channel.  One Albemarle was among those that didn't return to base - no. P-1442, whose crew included my cousin.

So, it is with great personal pride that I wear my poppy each year, in memory - a memory that I have never been able to know personally, of course - of

Pte. Charles W J Sturgeon, 4th Bn, Royal Norfolk Regt.  and
Sgt. Wilfred T Francis, 42 OTU, RAF

RIP