Fighting Through – From Dunkirk to Hamburg by Bill Cheall, edited by Paul Cheall (Pen and Sword Books £19.99) (From The Northern Echo)

Fighting Through – From Dunkirk to Hamburg by Bill Cheall, edited by Paul Cheall (Pen and Sword Books £19.99)

3:35pm Monday 1st August 2011 in Fiction By Steve Craggs

THIS memoir of a Green Howards warrior from Cleveland captures the essence of the British Tommy at war – tough, determined, patriotic and with a thirst to get the job done, but without any lust for glory.

With the BEF at Dunkirk, where he survived the Stukas; with Monty in North Africa, where he helped to defeat the Afrika Corps, and after further campaigns in Sicily and Italy, eventually taking part in the D-Day landings and the Liberation of Europe, Bill Cheall saw it all, did his bit and, like most soldiers, was glad when it was all over.

His recollections, edited by his son Paul, reveal the modest man aware of his own worth, with a courage that could not be broken and with a sense of humour that stood him in good stead in the tightest of situations. When the call to battle came, he answered it with a quiet strength that reflected well on him and the whole British Army.

A dark time but a proud time and we should all be proud of, and grateful to, Bill and others who fought so bravely for us.