My Father died in 1990. He hardly ever mentioned the war or his part in it. I knew he was in the Royal Artillery, and that he enjoyed his army service. His military conduct was described as exemplary, and he was given a glowing testimonial by his Battery Commander. He was well organised, methodical, with attention to detail; all habits that he probably pciked up in the army.
Like many of the men who fought in the last war, Dad never bothered to apply for his Campaign Medals preferring to put the war behind him. I had already inherited my Grandfather’s medals from the Great War (by coincidence he too was an Artilleryman) so, on a whim I decided to send for Dad’s medals; that was in 1976 I kept them in a drawer, and on occasions when I got them out to show someone, they would invariably ask what he did in the war, of course I didn’t know. Fast forward to 1995 and my journey to find out what my Dad had ‘done in the war’ began and ‘Guns and Bugles’ – the book is the result of my research.
“These two articles that appeared in the Regimental magazine – ‘The Silver Bugle’ in 1958 were the inspiration for my project. The first submitted by Richmond Gorle (R.A.G), ‘6 KSLI as gunners’ was from an officer briefly reminiscing his war service. The second (same title), in the following edition a couple of months later was submitted by John Meredith (J.M.) who was obviously inspired to write his own piece. John Meredith was my Father’s Troop, and later Battery Commander. In the article he names a few of his officers and men. I was more than thrilled and excited, that amongst the names was gunner Neal, Birmingham! He remembered my father, who must have made a lasting impression – I had to find out more!”
Guns and Bugles 