Rufty Hill with Bill Vickers and Winston - war book and story

Rufty Hill (back right) and friends with Bill Vickers (back left), his close pal. Taken at Limassol, Feb 1942. This heart-warming, previously unpublished, photograph was kindly supplied by Rufty’s nephew, Mike Smith.

At one point in the war, before the battle of Wadi Akarit, Bill Vickers and five mates were talking about what they would do after the war and Bill said he would wait till he got home before he decided that. Sadly, Bill was the only one of the friends who got home - the rest being killed in action. None of his dead pals had children so Bill and his wife remembered them by having six children, one for each of his mates and one for Bill.

Click the link for more about Rufty's story.