Reflections on Armistice Day.

I was thinking about my forebears and how they have served our country in wartime.
My father, Ernest, was in a reserved occupation. He was posted to East Anglia, at first to Biggleswade, not far from where I lived for nearly a quarter of a century at Gamlingay. His job was to prepare airfields for our bombers. Later he was moved to Witchford, the last war-time airfield to close. Whilst here, he had to 'camouflage' Ely cathedral to make it look like Peterborough's and mislead German bomber pilots. He would take the train back to Guildford every weekend but would then pedal off and be a relief air-raid warden and first-aider at Perry Hill, Worplesdon.
My uncle, Bernard, worked for A.V.Roe, the aircraft manufacturer at Woodford, near Manchester. He was conscripted into the RAF as part of the 'ferry team'. He was stationed in Hampshire and Oxfordshire for much of his time, although he did do a tour in Northern Ireland. They used to patch up incoming bombers that had been "shot up" and fly them back to the factory for full repair and then bring a "new" one back. He used to spend some of his short leave with us in Guildford. One of his last jobs involved preparing the Avro Vulcan for the Falklands, a war I played a small part in. Funny that we should be linked in this way, on the same aircraft mission.
Their cousins, with whom they were brought up, served as well. Three volunteered for the 2nd/3rd Commandos, while one made parachutes, and another served as a sergeant in the Tank Corps in north Africa, Crete and Italy. The latter was much decorated but never spoke of the war, not even to his wife.
My grandfather, Daniel, was wounded at the Somme in WW1. He was 'shot' in the elbow and suffered a blast injury to his side. He was repatriated, first to Barnsley and then to Hove, where he died in 1919. He served in the "Post Office Rifles", part of the Middlesex Regt. His name and those of other 'fallen' are displayed in the main Guildford Post Office. It used to be on some lovely glass panels when the Office was further down North Street, now it's just a plaque high on the wall.
At least two of his brother-in-laws also served in WW1. Arthur Ernest Childs (after whom my father is named) joined the 1st Bn Queens (the 1st regiment of foot - our local regiment that had its barracks next to my primary school and where 'Carry on Sergeant' was filmed) and was a POW (prisoner of war) in Germany. I know he survived becaused there is a letter written to my father by him from Bristol, sent after his wife, Alice, died. His younger brother, Mark Bernard Childs (after whom my uncle was named), also joined the ranks of the Queens Royal West Surrey Regt. but was transferred to the 12th Middlesex. I believe he also died during the conflict.
The war memorial outside Ewhurst church (and the old Post Office that my grandfather ran) bears the names of my grand-father, relatives and near relatives. Ironically, my first civil engineering job was to design a lay-by out side the old village school, which is directly opposite both the memorial and the PO.