Andy's dad served in the RAF for from the mid 50s to the late '70s and during the 60s served with the RAF in Aden for a year. Families were placed in "Records Quarters". Andy's family were quartered in West Malling in Kent. Regularly there would be a house on the camp with a lot of activity as a family moved out because their dad was killed or repatriated and discharged because they'd been badly injured in service. Andy saw the same thing at boarding school where a request to see the headmaster could mean very grave news and a sudden, often silent, departure from school in a taxi.
A few years ago Andy was reminded about how combat injuries can permanently affect someone's life. Andy had taken his dad to hospital and overheard the House Officer taking a Medical history from the man behind screens in the next bed. The conversation went something like this;
Doctor "How's your mobility? Are you OK walking?"
Patient "I haven't been able to walk since I was injured in the Normandy landings"
Andy went back the next day to pick up his dad and saw a confused, thin and trembling old man looking lost and confused in over-sized, borrowed pyjamas in the next bed. That man had been a fit, young soldier on 6th June 1944 and had gone to war to free Europe from the tyranny of the Nazis - and he'd be so badly injured he'd not been able to walk for the next sixty years! Andy sat in his car in Worthing Hospital car park and cried at the thought of it.
Since that day in 2012 we have run eight events to raise funds for Help for Heroes and have raised £3,210.68 so far. We have one more fund raising event on Sat 5th December, HO! HO! HO! for Heroes at the Warren. We are donating a £250 first prize for the raffle hope this will get people to spend even more on the raffle and take our total to more than £4,000. All the money raised will go to support our sick and injured service men and women - click here to find out more about the work of Help for Heroes
Below is the image from our fundraising page with Help for Heroes.
