Plan two | explore grandads WW2 history

Plan Two, my grandad and a bit of an introduction

This is my Grandad Bert Fakes. He’s the one in the centre . The picture was taken somewhere in Rome November 1944. 

Grandad was born 30th April 1910 just before the start  of the First World War in the Norfolk village of Hemsby .  By trade he was a carpenter but he also made a living as a self taught draftsman . I can remember as a boy watching him busy drawing housing plans.

He was a quiet man and led an unassuming life . I can remember him spending the majority of his time tending his garden where he would grow a huge assortment of different plants from humble potatoes to grapes and tomatoes in his greenhouse .  I guess this was where his nickname ‘ Moley’ derived as he way always digging?

I grew up in an era still not too distantly disconnected in time from the second world war . It fascinated both my friends and I to a certain degree . We all had the standard airfix model collections , Commando comic books and plastic soldiers .  I knew grandad served in the Second World War but he never really talked about it when I was a boy. I had a feeling that it affected him greatly though ? I can remember Nan would sometimes remark about him having one of his nightmares again, joking about being kicked out of bed . Then there was his  rule about not cooking pork or chicken in the house . I naively assumed he just didn’t like these foods . Only much later I found out it was not a question of taste but one of the smell and the association to certain unpleasant wartime memories .

Grandad joined the army in 1943 as a volunteer  . At that time he would have been considered an old man no doubt in the company of mainly late teenagers and twenty somethings !  Currently my knowledge of his service record is a bit sparse . He served both in North Africa and Italy . When in later life he started to talk about his wartime experience these mainly centred around the later .  One of the more harrowing tales he spoke of was the time he lost some good friends in an air raid . He allotted his survival down to good fortune and the presence of mind to dive under a truck and hide in the mud . Those that ran he put bluntly didn’t make it .  

When Grandad passed away I inherited his wartime wallet . Here I found a collection of pictures and memorabilia . Since that time I’ve acquired from family more related items including the collection of sketches he produced whilst in service which were sent back to Nan as mail. I’ve also got the sketch drawing of his signals half track . He was not a bad artist .  Not long ago while clearing out a cupboard I found some of these items again . This discovery was the spark that ignited the idea of tracing his military history . I want to know his story. If it is indeed possible to retrace his footsteps through Italy, I hope one day to be able to visit the places he passed and to understand what he experienced .

This is my plan number two.