• Reddit
• StumbleUpon
• Facebook
• Digg
• Delicious

"Mr Churchill must turn in his grave" Blitz Nurse

'The overall impression any reader of the letters gets is that this generation feel unheard, unwanted and unimportant. This remarkable collection of their thoughts should give us pause for reflection.' DAILY MAIL 'Do we now have a country fit for heroes to live in? Were all the sacrifices worthwhile? Have successive governments let down the very people who fought to keep our country free? Put this book on your shopping list.' THE NATIONAL EX PRISONER OF WAR ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER 'Personal memories of some amazing people who have lived through some of the most amazing yet heartbreaking times of our country. Nicholas Pringle has done a great job with this book. It is a terrific read!' ARMYWIVESUNITED.CO.UK

"If you have an important point to make, dont try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack." WINSTON CHURCHILL

'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.

"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."

"Then there was a huge explosion and the next thing I knew was that I was back on shore again, probably Dunkirk harbour."

"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..."

"My fallen colleagues would be saddened to see the state of our country. Old people like myself are afraid to go out at nights and even to answer a knock on the door."