Bio. 5 A Life Change

Bio. 5 A Life Change

One night shortly after the invasion of Normandy in June 1944 when we were in bed, a rocket fell less than a mile from our house. Its ear-splitting explosion was followed by the sound it made coming over and of falling debris. Our house was shaken but no windows broken. Shortly after that Dad had a major heart attack. He died several days later. He’d always had a weak heart. I was devastated but Mum was much worse. She refused to eat and had to be sent away. She died two months after Dad. Her death certificate said pneumonia but it was really from a broken heart.

My sister Joan was in the women's branch of the Royal Air Force, the WRAF. She had married a man from Exeter, in Devonshire. I had passed the matriculation exam, so I was enrolled at the University there shortly before my 17th birthday. In the next year I studied chemistry, physics, pure and applied math, nine-card brag, poker and women.

I passed the chemistry and physics exams but failed pure and applied math (and lost money at cards} so I was thrown out at the end of the academic year. I moved back to Romford and soon after was drafted into the army. On my army pay book, my occupation was listed as ‘student’. I didn’t know it at the time, but that made me eligible for a government grant to “complete my education” when I was demobilized.