Thank you so much for your kind invitation to my father, Vivian, to accompany the annual Veterans Cruise. He was 91 last November and has been caring for my Mother, Susan, after a severe stroke, 6 years ago. Mum and Dad have been married 68 years and Dad although well, only leaves Mum for an hour or so every couple of weeks to take a bus and have his hair cut. After Dunkirk Dad spent some time stationed in Taunton and a while in Ireland before being shipped out to the middle east and ultimately Italy. He did see General Alexander in the middle east he believes and this General was the commander who order Dad onto the boat in the early hours of 4th June at Dunkirk, although his memories of the exact date are not exact. Dad was captured ouside of Monte Casino and marched through the Brenna Pass into Germany where he spent the remaining months of the war as a prisoner. Mum spent those months in the belief that Daddy was missing presumed killed in action and was only enlightened by postcards from around the UK when Lord Haw Haw made a broadcast telling of his capture. Dad returned to the UK when Stalag 7a was liberated weighing under 7 stone to suffer the rest of his years through stomach ulcers. I'm sure my parents story is far from unique and many more are much more tragic but it is through Dad's stories we children have come to understand how difficult their generation's life was and we have learned how special our parents love for one another has become through those trials. Dad would find it very difficult to leave Mum for even a day, so thank you again, and I will ask him, but I believe I know what his answer will be. Carrine.
Thank you so much for your kind invitation to my father, Vivian, to accompany the annual Veterans Cruise. He was 91 last November and has been caring for my Mother, Susan, after a severe stroke, 6 years ago. Mum and Dad have been married 68 years and Dad although well, only leaves Mum for an hour or so every couple of weeks to take a bus and have his hair cut. After Dunkirk Dad spent some time stationed in Taunton and a while in Ireland before being shipped out to the middle east and ultimately Italy. He did see General Alexander in the middle east he believes and this General was the commander who order Dad onto the boat in the early hours of 4th June at Dunkirk, although his memories of the exact date are not exact. Dad was captured ouside of Monte Casino and marched through the Brenna Pass into Germany where he spent the remaining months of the war as a prisoner. Mum spent those months in the belief that Daddy was missing presumed killed in action and was only enlightened by postcards from around the UK when Lord Haw Haw made a broadcast telling of his capture. Dad returned to the UK when Stalag 7a was liberated weighing under 7 stone to suffer the rest of his years through stomach ulcers. I'm sure my parents story is far from unique and many more are much more tragic but it is through Dad's stories we children have come to understand how difficult their generation's life was and we have learned how special our parents love for one another has become through those trials. Dad would find it very difficult to leave Mum for even a day, so thank you again, and I will ask him, but I believe I know what his answer will be. Carrine.