Yesterday afternoon I took a young holding Flying Officer and a fellow Rock to Tyne Cot cemetery at Passchendaele, and the Menin Gate at Ypres. We did not know any of the fallen either buried there or remembered on the walls yet we all came away with a sense of loss.
As I drove us back to Calais I received a text message from my wife telling me my 16 year old daughter had just been whipped into hospital after a routine eye test in Boots had shown something on her retinas that needed a Dr’s opinion. By the time I got to the hospital a CAT scan had revealed something quite nasty is going on in her brain. She was moved pretty swiftly to a hospital that specialises in neurological matters. My daughter waved goodbye to me on Thursday afternoon and is now fighting a condition that is affecting her sight, hearing and sensation. She is due to start college on Monday and I leave the RAF Regt next Tuesday to begin a new career in the Met Police the same day.
As the news filters through our small unit I have been receiving messages of support and offers of help from all sorts of people. Some are from individuals I neither know particularly well, nor am not normally on the best speaking terms with.
My point; I do not compare my situation to any parent of someone who has been killed serving their country but I am deeply grateful for every single text, phone call and knock at the door from people expressing their feelings. Some are gushing, some are blunt and some are delivered in a manner that is definitely not my style but all mean a lot to me.
How does this relate to this thread? Let people express things their own way, you may not agree with the method or style of delivery but the message will be sincere and should be seen for what the bearer intends.
Regards
ss
PS I leave the Regiment on 11 Sep 07 after 24 years service, but I will always be a Rock – it is a Gunner thing.