Preston’s Second World War Stories
Photo of my mum and dad
My dad, Robert ‘Bob’ Sturges (1919-2005), was just my Dad. He worked hard every day, did DIY at home, mended the car and retired in his 70s.
He shared his War stories with me when he was in his 80s. Dad went to war when he was twenty, and he served with the Royal Artillery. Crossing enemy lines, he located their position and fed co-ordinates back to the artillery. He stayed in position to report back about the ‘hit’, he saw soldiers dying, engulfed in flames – the smell of the burning flesh.
It sounded horrific. I asked, “How did you deal with it?” He simply said, in his kind gentle way, “We had to, it was my job and if we didn’t
do it, they would do it to us”.
This made me realise that my dad, just like so many others, seemed ordinary, but in reality was extraordinary. It taught me never to judge a book by its cover.
