Me My Father and I

<p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>In June 1940 my father joined the 9th Battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment; he was 17. </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Trooper 7952180 hit the Normandy beaches on June 9</span><sup style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>th</sup><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> 1944 - my mission: to live his war again.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>The plan was simple. On my return from a road trip to France I would write a book about his exploits.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>To retrace his journey through North West Europe I put myself into his Tankie boots and hoped to combine historical facts with photographs war diaries and stories from his war years. </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>T</span><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>rapped inside his body I find myself driving a tank in Normandy and then across the battlefields of NW Europe from Sword Beach to Hamburg. And there is another problem. I must survive like he did to return to my safe modern-day life and I can only do this by reliving his war again. </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Dates and places are accurate and some names have been changed but my imagination was needed to fill in the gaps. </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)> </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>About the writer</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>I am a retired beer-drinking Prog rock-loving Munro-bagger who lives on the marshes in North Norfolk. In my sensible business life as an ex-UK and Ireland country leader I worked 35 years for a global company making detergent. For too long I harboured the desire to tell a story about a remarkable man who lived unremarkably. COVID allowed this to happen. </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>'Me My Father And I' is my attempt to write a WW2 book about his adventures in the 44th RTR and a memoir about parts of our life together. With no previous writing experience except business reporting probably more fiction than fact this project took me on a journey of discovery I should have completed many years ago!</span></p>