Documentation & Personal Accounts
The notes that follow include accounts written for The Eagle & Gun Regimental Association of which dad appears to have been one of the Managing Council members. They held annual meetings at a Cadets Training Centre in Whipps Cross, London. Dad was even able to attend his last one in 1995, less than a year before he died.
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| George Coe, Alec Davis & Jim Webb in 1994 (about 50 years after the war) |
Dad wrote some notes, but I don’t think they were intended for our benefit. They are written in a style which includes references, abbreviations and comments that his fellow soldiers would understand. They were written to be added to the accounts of others, but I don’t know when they were written, or whether they were ever published in the regiments annual meeting notes.
Similarly, the personal accounts of others are generally written in the same style, which may make some sections difficult to understand. Text within curly braces {like this} are my queries, comments and observations added to improve readability or as a memo for further research. I have done a limited amount of editing, mostly just to shorten some of the very long sentences that these accounts contain.
Many of the accounts give the impression that they had an easy time, but I think this is generally misleading (except for possibly some of the time they spent in Italy). Just as they were trying to bring down enemy aircraft, so the German and Italian planes were trying to destroy them and their anti-aircraft guns.
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