Twenty-One: Coming of Age in World War II

Twenty-One: Coming of Age in World War II
James Holland

World War II affected the lives of ordinary men and women more directly than any other conflict before or since.This is an unprecedented look at the lives of twenty-one young men who answered their country’s call to arms and left their homes to fight in unfamiliar and far-reaching corners of the globe.Many never returned, and those who did found their homes and countries much changed by long years of war. Most discovered they had become different people: having seen death and destruction on a scale they had never imagined they would witness, the return to civilian life was often far from easy.Now, more than sixty years on, this remarkable generation is fading. Most are now over eighty and around the world more than two thousand veterans of the war are passing away every day.In this new book ‘Sunday Times’ bestselling author James Holland recounts the real-life stories of twenty-one young men from around the world who served in different services and theatres of the war.Whether it be the Byers brothers from Canada or Bill Laity from Cornwall, Wlad Rubnikowicz from Poland or Tom Finney from Preston, each began the war with little idea of what lay in store; and yet, each displayed astonishing courage, fortitude and resilience, united by a sense of honour and duty, and bound by the fellowship of their comrades. Often reacting in very different ways to the strange and frequently terrifying situations in which they found themselves, they each suffered hardships and loss, making sacrifices that have ensured a lasting peace amongst the warring nations; and if some of these survivors are perplexed by how the world has developed, none doubts the value of what they did all those years ago.Moving, poignant, and conveying all the drama, tension and fear experienced in war, ‘Twenty-One’ is an uplifting tribute to a passing generation, describing the wide range of experiences and extremes these remarkable men and women witnessed during World War II.Note that it has not been possible to include the same picture content that appeared in the original print version.

TWENTY-ONE

Coming of Age in the Second World War

James Holland

Dedication (#ulink_6ab28474-87db-5680-bc68-f6f585b70175)

For Jimmy P

Contents

Cover (#u914d1322-2fd9-5146-85db-05c1edabad68)

Title Page (#ub5ef96c6-11b8-549b-ad25-f152ec2664d6)

Dedication (#u346e15ab-e7ad-5f9e-9176-dc6c07e42de9)

Introduction (#u6bec13d9-5b71-56f2-8b58-6c456078a3f8)

TWINS (#u62792a7d-5e08-5aa5-8848-b9813a4da60f)

Bill & George Byers (#uafd2d9fe-69c2-53b0-984f-553b8d9eac01)

Tom & Dee Bowles (#u425111b8-df18-5e68-938a-96541ecfcd86)

VILLAGE PEOPLE (#u66cffd75-e5a6-534d-bc50-b2f688c16f5d)

Dr Chris Brown (#u3f63fa90-865a-5c1c-80d2-468069a1edb9)

Bill Laity (#litres_trial_promo)

FRIENDSHIP (#litres_trial_promo)

John Leaver & Fred Walsh (#litres_trial_promo)

LOVE AND WAR (#litres_trial_promo)

Warren ‘Bing’ Evans & Frances Wheeler (#litres_trial_promo)

DERRING-DO (#litres_trial_promo)

George Jellicoe (#litres_trial_promo)

FIGHTER BOYS (#litres_trial_promo)

Roland ‘Bee’ Beamont (#litres_trial_promo)

Ken Adam (#litres_trial_promo)

SPORTING BLOOD (#litres_trial_promo)

Tom Finney (#litres_trial_promo)

THE SHADOW WAR (#litres_trial_promo)

Gianni Rossi (#litres_trial_promo)

Lise Graf (#litres_trial_promo)

BENEATH THE WAVES (#litres_trial_promo)

Michael ‘Tubby’ Crawford (#litres_trial_promo)

THE HEROIC ALLY (#litres_trial_promo)

Wladek Rubnikowicz (#litres_trial_promo)

BOY TO MAN (#litres_trial_promo)

Hugh ‘Jimmy’ James (#litres_trial_promo)

PARATROOPER (#litres_trial_promo)

Heinz Puschmann (#litres_trial_promo)

THE LAST BATTLE (#litres_trial_promo)

Bill Pierce (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)

Other Works (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Introduction (#ulink_66350408-9dba-5f31-8444-62df34b8041b)

When Roland Beamont turned twenty-one, he was already a veteran of the Battle for France and the Battle of Britain, had shot down a dozen enemy aircraft, and won a Distinguished Flying Cross. A year later he was a squadron leader with over sixty pilots and groundcrew under his command; before he was twenty-four, he was in charge of an entire wing of three squadrons, operating a brand-new aircraft that he personally had played a significant role in developing.

Today in the western world none of us is forced to spend the best years of our life fighting and living through a global war. International terrorism may be a cause for worry, but it has directly touched few of our lives so far. For the generation who were born from the embers of the First World War, however, coming of age offered little cause for celebration. Youth was sapped as the young men – and women – were forced to grow old before their time. Mere boys found themselves facing life-threatening danger and the kind of responsibility few would be prepared to shoulder today.

These people were an extraordinary generation. The majority of those who fought were not professionals, but civilians who either volunteered or were conscripted as part of a conflict that touched the lives of every person in every country involved; ordinary, everyday people. One of the fascinations of the Second World War is wondering what we would have done were we in their shoes. Would we have willingly answered the call? Which of the services would we have joined? And would we have been able to control our fear and keep ourselves together amidst the chaos and carnage? Or would we have crumbled under the weight of terror and grief? ‘How did you deal with seeing friends killed in front of your eyes?’ is a question I have asked veterans over and over again. ‘You simply had to put it out of mind and keep going,’ is the usual reply. Would we have been able to do that in an age when we like to demonstrate mass expressions of grief and to turn to counselling as the panacea for any trauma? One veteran who had survived much of the war in North Africa and then the bloody slog up through Italy told me how when his house was recently broken into, someone offered him victim-support counselling. ‘I told her to bugger off,’ he said.