The Unknown Warriors
9781409271741
A new World War Two book, packed with war memories and thoughts from British WW2 veterans.
Over the last few years, I have been hearing from World War Two veterans, most in their late eighties or nineties. I hoped to record some of their memories, but also to find out what they think of the country today. Such was the response that a book of over 120,000 words can now be ordered. As well as opinions there are many fascinating wartime memories. Nick Pringle More HERE
"If my fallen comrades could return to this country today, they would wonder who the victors were." Desert Rat & POW of the Stalag Camps
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Over 120,000 WORDS, 6inx9in approx 356 printed pages.
UK CUSTOMERS CLICK HERE TO ORDER ON AMAZON.CO.UK CURRENTLY LISTED AS IN STOCK, WITH FREE UK DELIVERY AND A DISCOUNT PRICE OF £11.18.
The book can also be ordered via local bookshops (stockists HERE), WHSmith, Waterstones etc. RRP £12.99 For full stockist info, BFPO delivery, overseas orders etc click HERE
NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.COM FOR USA READERS
"They were the people we fought for - our folk and our country. For todays society I would not have done it." Spifire Armourer, Biggin Hill, Battle of Britain
"Mr Churchill must turn in his grave" Blitz Nurse
Photo taken at the Cenotaph, opposite the gates of Downing Street, Remembrance Sunday 1999.
70
Battle of britain 70 years on
"BANG! Sparks all round and all hell let loose. Boy, I was always quick in those days."
RAF Spitfire Pilot, John Gillespie Magee Jr wrote a poem 'High Flight' shortly before he was killed while flying in 1941. It became world famous. He wrote another poem that he is less well known for, Per Ardua, a dedication to all the pilots that were killed during the Battle of Britain.
Per Ardua
(To those who gave their lives to England during the Battle of
Britain and left such a shining example to us who follow, these
lines are dedicated.)
"They that have climbed the white mists of the morning;
They that have soared, before the world's awake,
To herald up their foeman to them, scorning
The thin dawn's rest their weary folk might take;
Some that have left other mouths to tell the story
Of high, blue battle, quite young limbs that bled,
How they had thundered up the clouds to glory,
Or fallen to an English field stained red.
Because my faltering feet would fail I find them
Laughing beside me, steadying the hand
That seeks their deadly courage –
Yet behind them
The cold light dies in that once brilliant Land ....
Do these, who help the quickened pulse run slowly,
Whose stern, remembered image cools the brow,
Till the far dawn of Victory, know only
Night's darkness, and Valhalla's silence now?"
'A lesson in realism came from John Oakley, who works with the charity Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association. His letter brought offers of help from dozens of readers, because he told the story of a very old man, once a prisoner of the Japanese, who needed £500 to double-glaze his bathroom, so that he could take a bath in warmth. The money was not there to give him. “Telling him was very hard,” Mr Oakley wrote, “but his reaction – that life was tougher on the railway and that I was not to worry – left me weeping. Now I read of the chocolate bars, bath plugs and horse manure claimed in expenses by our MPs, and I weep again.” ' Christopher Howse, Letters Editor, Daily Telegraph 16th May 2009 FOOTNOTE! Meanwhile the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown claimed in his expenses the same amount, £500, for the paint and painting of a garden summerhouse and got it.
"and I say to younger member's of my family, you will never, ever, know what a lovely country this was.."
The Daily Mail ran a double page article about the book. You can read the internet version with 194 readers comments online HERE
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VE DAY 65 - 8TH MAY 2010
"I am pleased to have a chance to speak on behalf of my friends still in Normandy after clashing with the 12th S.S Hitler Youth Panzer Division"
"I had Beri Beri Pallegra, electric feet, strawberry balls ulcers and we had a Diptheria outbreak. When I had Dysentry, it was really touch and go but I survived. Never sat in a chair, slept in a bed or saw a white woman for four years."
"A screaming wind was bloweing horizontally across the sea with such violence that I was afraid to go out on deck. I felt as if I was choking, and I stood there trying to find courage..."
Dunkirk rearguard 70
"Then there was a huge explosion and the next thing I knew was that I was back on shore again, probably Dunkirk harbour."
"There is a sickness in our society, pensioners being treated like this, but that still celebrates the end of World War Two. It is hypocrisy" wrote a Royal Navy veteran about the 60th anniversary of VE day, now 5 years of have passed and in that time many more of the WW2 generation have been mugged, beat up, burgled, raped and even murdered. View the silent scandal HERE
