My grandfather was a Royal Marine in the Great War. He was 19 when he was injured in the Battle of Jutland in which nearly 10,000 lives were lost in a single day. He was on the battle-cruiser HMS Lion when it was hit by shells from the battle-cruiser Lützow. He lost an eye and had other injuries. Like most men who were involved in that war, he was never inclined to talk about his experiences, but he suffered nightmares all his life.
My father used to tell a story about the outbreak of the Second World War, and how they heard the news. He was a teenager working with his Da on a painting job in Bluebell. The old man had sent him into town on his bike to get paint and other materials. He had one of those old black delivery bikes with a big basket in the front for carrying goods.
In the centre of Dublin there was great excitement as the news was breaking that war had been declared. The newsboys were shouting the headlines and people were jostling to get copies of the paper.
My father jumped back on his bike and flew back out to Bluebell as fast as he could.
'Da! Da!' he shouted as he arrived. 'It's War! Britain is after declarin' war on Germany!'
The old man looked at him and asked:
'Did ya forget the turps?'
The hilarious new comedy novel 'It's a Desperate Life' is now available as a paperback or e-book from Amazon and all other good book sellers, and through http://peterhammondauthor.com
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