Fortunes (Mis-fortunes) of War

IF any one life epitomises the for-tunes of war it is that of my grandfather Henry ‘Harry’ Marston. ( indicated in the photo )
The Royal Warwickshire Regiment soldier survived the Battle of the Somme in the 1914-18 conflict, but became a rare casualty of enemy action in Warwick during the Second World War. Harry, by then a reservist with the regiment, was 50 years old and worked as a metal polisher. He was walking on St Mary’s Common on May 17, 1941 when a Luftwaffe aircraft dropped a stray stick of bombs. He was killed instantly along with his friend, James Height. Both are commemorated on the town’s war memorial in Church Street, just off Warwick town centre.
I still remember this tragic event. They were walking along the path about 200 or 300 yards from Linen Street; they were coming home from a nightshift. There were just a couple of bombs. The plane must have just jettisoned them after an air raid. I don’t think they were trying to bomb Warwick town as a target. The tragedy was the second war-related loss to be inflicted on my grandmother. Her first husband, Sgt Cadmore, died of his injuries not long after returning from the First World War.
I heard of my grandfather when I returned home from school my mother and grandmother were both crying and they told me that grandfather had been killed. But, I was ten years old and it did not really sink in.
This was not to be the only time I had direct experience of the human cost of war. My 13-year-old friend Stanley Llewellyn was killed in the same year after picking up a live mortar bomb at Wedgnock Rifle Range, then a military site. Many of us as children would go up to the rifle range to pick up bits of shells, bullets and parachute flares. Stanley picked up a bomb and he hid it up his sweater, later it dropped out hit the ground and exploded.
I have researched my family’s military connections for several years. Both my father and grandfather served with the Royal Warwickshire at its Budbrooke Barracks. National service allowed me to follow in their foot-steps and I served in Germany. I remain very proud of this link and I am keen member of the Royal Warwickshire Regimental Association (Leamington Spa branch), which meets at the Royal British Legion Club in Leamington Spa.

If you would like to get in touch please email me:- patrick.rafferty@ntlworld.com

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