We Will Remember Them

Of course we will, those of us who had a parent who served in the armed forces during any kind of conflict, cannot forget what they sacrificed for us, and what scars we also carry.

 

A photo of Dad when he enlisted, from his war records.

 



My father couldn't wait to join up when the second world war broke out, he lied about his age and was just 18 and 9 months when he joined the RAAF.  Little wonder then, that his war records were not the heroic fables that his younger brother, my darling Uncle Bill, used to tell me about my Dad.  In 2003 I was able to obtain my father's service records from the War Memorial in Canberra and what a surprise I got!  Dad had been court marshalled, and almost lost his wings due to his misbehaviour and his alleged poor flying ability.  In his defence though, it did appear that some superior officers had it in for him, and he later went on to fly commercially after he was discharged so he can't have been too bad a pilot.  His commercial flying was cut short though by eye problems that included glaucoma and cataracts so I wonder if that affected his flying when he was younger?
I started this yesterday, ANZAC Day, a special and solemn day when we remember all those who have served in armed forces for our country.  And since the anniversary of Dad's death is April 21st I always think of him on ANZAC Day.
There is more information online these days and I found information about my grandfather, my uncle and a great uncle.  I am going to get Grandfather's war records as well.  I was always led to believe he served in WW1 but he was born in 1898 so would have only been 16 when the first war broke out and I couldn't find any details about him relating to that conflict.
My father, who didn't drink or smoke before he joined up, died at just 58, an alcoholic, from smoking related cancer.  They used to issue the men with cigarettes and Dad always smoked the ones without the filter.
I have to go to the school next week to do battle with Emily's art teacher.  She had an assignment, which she did, and quite well I thought, using several mediums, but she had used glitter to represent the way the sun glints on the sea and the teacher refused to accept it because she "doesn't like glitter".  Isn't this putting her own prejudice onto Emily's interpretation? Also they know well that her confidence has been dented badly due to everything that happened and I got a letter saying that she would receive an "n award" if she didn't hand something by early May.  This teacher is a bit odd, I don't like her much, and threw a fit on Valentines' Day when the girls were drawing hearts and other things that teenage girls do.  Josh is friends with her son, and had his first and only sleepover at their house and she didn't even give him dinner or look after him (he was only 12 or so at the time). 
So now it's time to think about moving house.  Again.  Not going to start packing today though, I'm having a lazy day.