Fred, was my father, he was born in 1923 and died in 2001. Growing up we would hear the odd story about his childhood, but little or nothing regarding his time in New Guinea, a common theme with returned service men.
Later in life he was convinced (cajoled?) into writing down his life-stories. He began writing in June 1998 and restarted in January 1999 after a break due to Prostate cancer treatment.
He wrote his story on various bits of paper he had in the house and now these have been transcribed. In doing this transcription, as far as possible, it is word for word, with as little grammatical or other changes made and where a clarification or comment has been included this will be obvious.
Fred included a few hand-drawn diagrams. These are also included as well as some other pictures and maps which will hopefully add to, rather than detract from the story.
I hope Fred’s story will give you a window into another age and way of life.
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To read Fred’s original hand written manuscript click here