My father did not bring much back from his six years of war. He would have had his demob suit of course, and I remember a leather jerkin that he wore into the 1960s. Then, in common with millions of other military personnel and civilians, there was the case of what we now call PTSD. There was also his War…
My uncle Lawrence Holford was killed by a Bristol Beaufighter. Maybe two. My father worshipped his older brother Laurie, and growing up my brother and I heard the story that he was killed in the Brighton Blitz while serving as a special reserve constable with the Brighton police. I imagined a lone policeman on dark streets, German bombers overhead, searchlights…
1940 has been well served by blockbuster movies this past year. Last summer there was Dunkirk as legendary saga and then this winter Darkest Hour focussed on the Westminster drama of the political backdrop. Dunkirk tells the story of the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force by following what happens to some representative figures – soldiers trying to get off the beach; a…