A note from Bill Cheall about his war book and diary

This is my own true story of an ordinary soldier in the Green Howards during World War 2. The story includes, amongst others, my experiences at Dunkirk, D Day, a voyage on the Queen Mary and being wounded in action.

Many of the events described have been taken from notes written soon after those events took place. The remainder has been compiled from my memoirs which I set down more than forty years ago while they were still fresh in my mind and, more recently, I was given the inspiration to write everything down in book form so that other ex-servicemen may share some of the memories I have of that period in our lives.

Writing my memoirs gave me the opportunity to relive the years from 1939 to 1946. Looking back over the most traumatic and dare I say, exciting, time of my life causes me to delve very deeply into my thoughts and bring to the surface events which happened so long ago that only a shadow remains; others have gone with the passage of time. However, some of the happenings are still so vivid in my mind that I can recall almost every detail.

What you are about to read is a true story of my service during World War 2 - nothing is invented or imagined. It is a story of events as I saw and experienced them and I will try, to the best of my ability, to describe vividly just how it was. At the beginning, little did I realise that my life would change forever as a result of my experience.

Come with me on a journey of reminiscence about The Second World War 1939-45
Bill Cheall 4390717, May 1994