My story is full of holes. My Grandfather Jack Stoker would have been 101 this year.
He joined the Royal Artillery in 1935 and was stationed at Folkestone in Kent. Originally from Sunderland, Durham, he had gone down the mines at 14 but as soon as he was able he left and joined up.
At the outbreak of war he went with the BEF to France and was one of those rescued at Dunkirk. He saw action in North Africa and in Italy and I think he finished up in Greece. He had signed up for 12 years and was released into the Army Reserve in 1947.
He was a hard man to know sometimes, I always had a lot of respect for him but he could be very hard. He passed away in 2004 and when I was organising his funeral, I came across some of his Army certificates, medals and postcards and with the agreement of the rest of the family I collected it all together, scanned and copied everything and made albums for everyone and we donated the originals the Royal Artillery Museum.
Recently I have started working at Dover Castle and part of my duties is to give tours of the tunnels there involving Operation Dynamo (The evacuation of Dunkirk) and consequently I have read and researched a lot.
I was talking to his sole surviving sister-in-law about the war years and my grandfather and how he was. She told me something extraordinary, when he came back from Dunkirk, he broke down, this hard Northern man. He never did again, but Doreen said he came back a different man.
He served as I said until 1947, he then worked on the railways until he retired. Although he always called Sunderland home he never went back, staying in Folkestone.
I would have liked to have known the happy man he was said to have been, and would like to know more about his service.
He always seemed a bit semi detached except when he was with his wartime friends, when he was having drink or when watching his beloved Sunderland AFC. Ironically their new ground was built over the colliery he worked down.
He was probably like thousands of his fellow soldiers, whose lives were shaped and possibly scarred by their wartime experiences. He just carried it with him.
This may seem a little downbeat but its not really, I'm extremely proud of him and his generation and what they did for us. I just wish I knew a little more.
