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« on: Friday 13 July 12 14:57 BST (UK) »
Hi Sandy thanks for the response. I know very little about my Grandfather, it's not a happy tale. What I do know is that his from his paybook Regimental Number 5875149 Date of Birth 13 Apr 04. I'm not sure when he first enlisted but he signed on for 9+3 on 17 Jul 25. Against his signature he has put Cpl but in the portion about previous service it says Nil. I don't quite understand this. The only other things that I know are the places where he served and that at one time he was the Drum Major. I have a few photos of the move to Iraq by air, some of which are the same as the collection of the Northamptonshire Museums on Flicker.
During the Second World War I believe he served in Burma leaving his wife and three daughters in their house in Kettering. It was during the war that my Grandmother got a job at the USAAF base at Grafton Underwood. There then followed a relationship with an American Sergeant. When my Grandfather returned, I assume in 1945, the family disintegrated and he was left on his own in this house in Kettering. Any mention of my Grandfather was forbidden and certainly there was no contact with his daughters.
Sometime in the middle of 1979 my Mother was contacted by the Police and told that my grandfather had died. I don't know how they found her to tell her. I was stationed quite close at the time (I was in the RAF) I attended his funeral at Kettering Crematorium. The house had fallen into dereliction and almost uninhabitable. Every room was piled high with 30 years of junk. Like I said not a happy story and as I get older it has become one of my deepest regrets that I wasn't allowed to know him.
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