About the contributor

My father, Willie Sidebottom (Bill) served in the 7th (or poss. 8th) army Transport division as a driver of tank transporters and was in Egypt for approx.four years. He was present at the Battle of El Alamein (1942) and has vivid, (often quite distressing) memories of the actual battle .My father is now in his 92nd year and last year we returned to Egypt and Alamein.(Courtesy of a lotteries grant) It was an extremely emotional visit for my father. We visited the war cemetery and Cairo. We also visited Alexandria where my father had many happy war time memories. We both found the visit thought provoking yet enjoyable and it was the culmination of a lifelong dream of my fathers to be able to return to the battle scene, although he says, as much as he 'enjoyed' the visit, he has no desire to re visit the scene although, it served to exorcise many of the ghosts my father still experiences from that time. This year my father, myself and my teenage daughter visited Egypt again and once again thoroughly enjoyed the experience.