We Sons of WW2 Vets - Episodes
Episode 1 is a 17-minutes-long taster.
You can reach it directly here:
All other episodes are individual interviews
with sons of World War Two veterans.
Descriptions of episodes below.
But you can also find articles, pictures and artefacts plus information on how to support this podcast (a labour of love by Matthew) on the Patreon creators' website:
https://www.patreon.com/cw/wesonsofww2vets
These are the episodes of We Sons of World War Two Vets that have been published so far:
Episode 11, Arthur and Syd
Comedian Arthur Smith talks about his dad, Syd, who became a prisoner of war at El Alamein.
After being transported to Sicily and paraded through Palermo as a trophy of war, Syd did forced labour in a German copper mine before being sent to Colditz Castle, the POW camp for inveterate escapees. "Luxury after the copper mine," said Syd.
Arthur reads from his dad's memoirs and gives a funny, moving account of a very loving father-son relationship.
Episode 10, Ray and "Nick"
Before WW2, Nick Wells was a commercial vehicle engineer. At the outbreak of war, he joined the Royal Navy and became an engine room 'artificer'.
He was at sea - away from his wife and daughter - for four years.
Ray arrived in 1946 - one of the first baby boomers.
Nick didn't talk much about his war but one horrific tale stuck in his son's mind: Nick saw a colleague get vaporised by steam from a smashed turbine when their ship was hit by a torpedo.
Other stories included accounts of going ashore in Crete with commandos in small dinghies to sabotage enemy supply lines.
And then hurtling perilously back to the UK across the Mediterranean. "Blood, sweat and tears," was how he described the voyage.
There were also mentions of freezing Murmansk and motorcycling across the Egyptian desert on a Moto Guzzi with a dangerously rogue flywheel. (It shot off into the sand at 60mph.)
The overall effect of his father's war on Ray was a lifelong wariness of moving parts in engines.
He's never serviced his cars.
Episode 9, Richard and Jack
Jack Foster's family story sounds like a Michael Palin Ripping Yarn.
His father fought in the Boar War and his dad and all his uncles played cricket for Worcestershire.
One of his uncles also played for England and scored a record-breaking 287 in his debut match against Australia.
Jack joined the RAF from school and became an ace nightfighter with 604 Squadron (whose commander was John "Cat's Eyes" Cunningham) flying Beaufighters and Mosquitos.
After the war he became a test pilot and was part of a team exploring possibilities of supersonic flight.
Richard brings his father's log books to the interview and reads out entries that include the description of one mission during which Jack shot down three enemy aircraft - in only 50 minutes.
Episode 8, David and Edward
Edward Toms lived to the age of 102 and published his memoirs when he was 100.
Edward and his tank were set on fire during the Battle of Alamein. (He had to roll around in sand to put the flames out and then inject himself with morphine.)
Later in the war he took part in Special Forces raids on Albania.
But during his long life, Edward never forgot the many young comrades who were killed fighting alongside him.
Photographs of the men featured in the above episodes will appear here soon.
These are the other episodes:
Eleven episodes on podcast platforms now.
To go to the show, click on preferred platform below:
Episode 7, Eric and George. And George
Eric Grant talks about his father, George Laidlaw, who took 11 bullets after parachuting into Arnhem. (And survived!) He also talks about wartime romance; his adoptive father, George Grant; his mother, Pearl; and a desire to erase wartime history.
Episode 6, Robert and Hugh
Robert Sackville-West talks about his father, Hugh, who won a Military Cross during the liberation of France.
Hugh was in the Tank Regiment but his family didn't learn the full details of his war until after he died.
Episode 5, Richard and Thomas
Richard Hicks' father, Thomas, was a Wellington bomber pilot. He had so many extraordinary, lucky escapes that his crew thought he was in league with the devil (because the devil looks after his own...). They refused to fly with any other pilot.
Matthew and Richard met in prison - when they were working as teachers in HMP Wormwood Scrubs.
Episode 4, Joe and John
Matthew speaks to Cumberland farmer Joe Roe about his father John.
Joe was born in 1947 but describes the Second World War "as a thread which has run through my entire life".
John's war took him to France; the Western Desert; Italy; and, afterwards, to Palestine.
When he came home, Joe's father took over the local post office. But, says Joe, "Not a day seemed to go by when the war wasn't mentioned in some way."
The cool dude on the motorcycle is Joe's dad, John.
Episode 3, Andy and Andy
Matthew speaks to Londoner Andy Trevillion about his father, also called Andy.
Andy Senior's war saw him rescued from Dunkirk; fighting Rommel in the Western Desert; seeing action in Southern Italy; and, after the war, fighting in Greece.
Andy describes his father as "A good bloke, an easy person to be around". But it was only after his death that Andy Junior fully appreciated quite what a toll his father's war experiences had taken.
Episode 2, Murdo and John
Matthew speaks to journalist Murdo Morrison - who grew up on the Isle of Lewis - about his father John's war.
John took part in the Normandy landings (D-Day plus 4).
They explore the huge cultural differences between the baby boomer son and his war vet father.
Episode 1
This is a 17-minutes-long taster. You can access it directly here:
To go to the whole show, click on your preferred platform below:
Thank you for your interest in We Sons of WW2 Veterans
But before you go, here's a delicate request:
Matthew's spent a year on this project so far. He's travelled around the country meeting veterans' sons and put in months of work creating the finished episodes.
But this project has gone beyond his initial desire to compare notes with other veterans' sons. And to give them the opportunity to tell their fathers' stories.
This project's becoming a series of powerful, poignant, personal reflections on the inter-generational effects of war and on the relationships between World War Two fathers and their baby boomer children.
And as global politics become more fraught than they've been since the end of World War Two, it feels timely to remind ourselves of what it can take to maintain peace and freedom.
This project's been completely funded by Matthew himself. But there are still many stories he wants to tell. And now he wants to interview veterans' daughters too.
So, if you are able to support this podcast in any way, you will help to make the oncoming episodes. (And keep the audio standards of recordings high.) You will even do a small bit to document the legacy of World War Two.
To support this podcast, you can hit the 'Support the Show' button under each episode's blurb on any of the podcast platforms.
You can contact Matthew (see contact form below) to discuss making a direct, one-off contribution.
Or you can visit the "We Sons..." page of the creators' website, Patreon. There you can read articles by Matthew about the podcast, and see 'Membership'!
https://www.patreon.com/c/wesonsofww2vets/
Thank you so much for your support.
And if you want to tell your father's story, please get in touch. (Contact form below.)