Talk about my Dad, Bill Cheall’s, war memoirs at the Nationa

[paulcheall]

Fighting Through from Dunkirk to Hamburg - Talk at the National Army Museum, London 12.30pm - Thursday 27 September
I thought members in the London area in particular might like to be informed that I'm doing an hour's talk next week on Dad's memoirs, published by Pen and Sword.
The address is National Army Museum, Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, London, SW3 4HT and the talk is being held in the Lecture Theatre.
About the talk:
Bill Cheall’s son, Paul Cheall, has spent some years editing his father's memoirs into a form which was ready for publication and the book was finally published in May 2011 by Pen and Sword. His talk has been presented at the Green Howards museum in Richmond, Yorkshire, amongst other venues. It is a mixture of episodes from the book together with many photographs and a number of anecdotes about comrades gleaned from families who have been in contact since the web site was published.
When Bill Cheall joined up in April 1939, he could not have imagined the drama, trauma, rewards and near continuous action that lay in store. First and foremost a Green Howard, as a member of the BEF he saw the sharp end of Hitler’s May 1940 Blitzkrieg and was evacuated exhausted from Dunkirk.
His next move was to North Africa, courtesy of the Queen Mary, to be part of Monty’s 8th Army. After eventual victory in Tunisia, the Sicily invasion followed. Alongside a number of other battle-hardened units, the Green Howards were ordered back to England to form the vanguard of the Normandy Invasion. In the fierce fighting that followed the D-Day landing on GOLD Beach, he was wounded and evacuated. His comrade Sergeant Major Stan Hollis, won the only VC to be awarded on 6 June 1944.
Every cloud has a silver lining and Bill fell in love with his nurse. That did not prevent his return, once fit, to the war zone and he finished the war with the East Lancs as a Regimental Policeman in devastated occupied Germany. For all this he earned seven medals and a wounded-in-action stripe.
Bill experienced many adventures during those action-packed years. Unlike too many, he survived to share these with the reader. Told with modesty, humility and humour, Fighting Through From Dunkirk to Hamburg is, by any measure, a superb fighting soldier’s memoir. Bill passed away peacefully in 1999 following a battle with prostate cancer.
For more background on Bill's war, visit the companion website at www.fightingthrough.co.uk .
An Eastern Daily Press review of the book can be found at http://www.fightingthrough.co.uk/#/war- ... 4554420592
I look forward to meeting any forum members who might attend.
Kind regards
Paul