Captured at Arnhem

Author: Norman Hicks
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473830044
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 343

Book Description
A memoir of a young soldier’s training as a paratrooper during WWII, his wartime service, imprisonment and return to his career for the British railways. After spending the 1930s working for the London Midland Scottish railways, Tom Hicks volunteered for war service in 1939 and was initially placed in the military railway of the Royal Engineers. In search of adventure, he successfully applied to join the newly formed 1st Parachute Squadron of the Royal Engineers. The intensity and rigors of parachute training are described in detail, as are the comradeship and humor that came to the fore as this small 150-man unit fought throughout the Second World War as part of the 1st Parachute Brigade. The excitement of the first parachute jumps is relived together with the parachute operations in North Africa, Sicily, and the Battle of Arnhem. It was here after nine days’ fighting with his mates falling around him that Tom was wounded and taken prisoner. Following the battle, Tom was transported in a cattle truck to Germany where he was used as forced labor in a lead mine until being liberated by the Americans in 1945. With insightful commentary from Tom’s son Norman, this is the story of an ordinary soldier, who was motivated by pride in his unit. Tom has recounted his experiences with a keen eye and a sense of humor that has always enabled him to triumph in the face of adversity.

The 3S’S

Author: Roy Dainty
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1481775456
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 125

Book Description
A collection of true anecdotes, most with hilarious outcomes, some naming and shaming the famous, all grouped together under the headings of Shave, S**t, and Shower. A whimsical, occasionally sarcastic, though usually just downright funny, round-up of novelties, mishaps, and unfortunate events involving the author, Roy Dainty, which have helped shape the world during the past sixty years. How Led Zeppelin nearly didnt happen, the hidden joys of 1960s passenger flight, the phantom cra**er of BEA, surviving crucifixion, the hidden delights of the Marrakesh Express, and attempted suicide on the Orient Express all feature in this eclectic compendium. Written from other recollections that came to mind when he was editing S**T, this collection evolved as its pan-side companion. Just make sure that you are sitting comfortably before opening its pages.

Once Too Many Times

Author: Oliver E Cadam
Publisher: eBook Partnership
ISBN: 1910077666
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 260

Book Description
As Old Flo sat there, watching and listening, she became easily convinced of several important observations. The first was that her daughter-in-law seemed uncharacteristically distracted, even remote, from the events around her. Secondly, she understood with complete clarity that her own son was infatuated with the pretty little thing sitting opposite. She could see the longing in his eyes and trace it through every behavioural tick on show. She felt sure that the others, including the girl herself, must surely have registered such transparency, and she wondered what fireworks lay ahead. Another intriguing factor was the big blonde lad who sat there, apparently comfortable and confi dent, and yet in some way preoccupied. Something there required further investigation. Flo just couldn't see why the man's attractive wife would ever fi nd anything worth straying for in her own son's rather tawdry realm. Time would tell, but she knew her son wanted that girl.Spanning a generation, this mystery thriller moves between the City of London and Cape Town, rural Kent and the hills of Girona in north-eastern Spain, weaving a tale of lust and deception, romance and retribution.

Modelling Engine Sheds and Motive Power Depots of the Steam Era

Author: Terry Booker
Publisher: Crowood
ISBN: 1785001159
Category : Crafts & Hobbies
Languages : en
Pages : 478

Book Description
Many railway modellers include an engine shed somewhere on their layout. However, all too often the shed is squeezed into a quite improbable location and is little more than a place to 'park' engines when they are not in use. This well-illustrated and comprehensive book, written by an experienced railway modeller, helps even the beginner to develop a far more realistic approach and to capture the unforgettable grimy but exciting atmosphere of the locomotive shed in the steam era. The book covers all types of engine shed from the branch line sub-shed to the main line motive power depot, and discusses research, planning, the building process, readily available materials and simple tools. It goes on to explain how to obtain the very best from kits, how to site and operate sheds, and how to make them look authentic. It demonstrates the construction of over a dozen kits, including off-the-shelf kits and the newest computer downloadable kits, and shows the modeller how to create special dioramas depicting the whole shed scene and how to scratch-build complete sheds, including coal stages and other infrastructure. With further advice for those with a limited amount of space, and 'top tips' throughout, this is essential reading for modellers of all abilities who wish to incorporate a realistic locomotive shed of the steam era into their layout. Well illustrated with 323 colour photographs.

Era of Steam Engines

Author: David Hunt
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 0557164419
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Book Description
Steam supreme. There are lots of railwaymen, who have departed from this world, and many are still alive, however very few have written about their experiences as employees while working for the Western Australian Government Railways. These incidents laughable or sad would be lost forever. The age of steam running supreme has vanished but the memories live on in the minds of men and women who worked in this steam-era. This book details what it was like to be one of those people; working diligently in this era, making many permanent friends for life and enjoying working steam and diesel locomotives.

Harold Gasson's Steam Days

Author: Harold Gasson
Publisher: Crecy
ISBN: 1800350244
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 480

Book Description
When Harold Gasson first put pen to paper more than forty years ago, it was at a time when there was a growing resurgence of interest in the steam railway. Three of his books described his life as a fireman based at Didcot shed from the early 1940s. Firing Days was followed by Footplate Days and then Nostalgia Days. Finally, after Harold had forsaken the footplate for the signal box, came the final instalment, Signalling Days. All were eagerly sought after at the time for they described the railway readers wanted to hear about, providing a nostalgic perspective which could be enjoyed from the comfort of ones arm chair. Out of print for several decades, all four books have now been reprinted and are available together for the first time complete with a new set of illustrations. The steam engines and most of the mechanical signal boxes of Harolds working days may have been long consigned to history but in these well-written and enjoyable books they are brought vividly back to life for a new audience to enjoy as well for those who recall his era for whom these tales will reawaken treasured memories.

The Stories of My Life

Author: Victor Wilfred Rogers
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1984536753
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 106

Book Description
Inspired by a writing class and many people who told him Oh, you have led such an interesting life with so many stories to tell, he decided to write down some of those stories, beginning with a brief synopsis on how his mother and father got to the point in their lives where his began. While he was born in the United States, he spent much of his childhood and young adult life in Canada and England. He considered himself very fortunate to have traveled to so many places around the world. This book is a collection of random stories from his life and an expression of how he marveled at the many technological changes that happened during his lifetime.

Daddy’s Money

Author: Jo McDougall
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
ISBN: 1610754832
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 210

Book Description
Jo McDougall brings a poet's sensibility to memoir. Recounting five generations of Delta rice farmers, through family archives and oral histories, she traces how the clan made their way into the fabric of America, beginning with her Belgian-immigrant grandfather, a pioneer rice farmer on the Arkansas Delta at the turn of the twentieth century. As John Grisham has for a 1950s Arkansas cotton farm, McDougall illuminates an Arkansas rice farm in the 1930s and 1940s. The Garot family's acreage near DeWitt and the town itself provide the stage for McDougall's wry, compelling, and layered account of the day-to-day of rice growing on the farm that her father inherited. In that setting she discovers a rich "universe of words" in the Great Depression, comes of age during World War II, and finds her way alongside "that whole quirky, compelling cast of characters" that comprised her kin. In this conflicted, ironic, southern-but-universal account of betrayal, heartbreak, loss, and joy, "the vagaries and the grace" of the land join forces with the power of money as family bonds are both forged and dissolved. Deeply felt, unsentimental, and often humorous,Daddy's Money presents McDougall's life and the lives of her relatives in the way that all our lives are eventually framed-as stories. "When all else is lost," the author maintains, "the stories remain."

R. M. Ballantyne: Collected Works

Author: R. M. Ballantyne
Publisher: DigiCat
ISBN:
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 13417

Book Description
DigiCat Publishing presents to you this unique action & adventure collection with sea adventure novels, western classics, historical thrillers, treasure hunt tales, war stories._x000D_ Table of Contents:_x000D_ The Coral Island_x000D_ Snowflakes and Sunbeams (The Young Fur Traders)_x000D_ Ungava_x000D_ Martin Rattler_x000D_ The Dog Crusoe and his Master_x000D_ The World of Ice_x000D_ The Gorilla Hunters_x000D_ The Golden Dream_x000D_ The Red Eric_x000D_ Away in the Wilderness_x000D_ Fighting the Whales_x000D_ The Wild Man of the West_x000D_ Fast in the Ice_x000D_ Gascoyne_x000D_ The Lifeboat_x000D_ Chasing the Sun_x000D_ Freaks on the Fells_x000D_ The Lighthouse_x000D_ Fighting The Flames_x000D_ Silver Lake_x000D_ Deep Down_x000D_ Shifting Winds_x000D_ Hunting the Lions_x000D_ Over the Rocky Mountains_x000D_ Saved by the Lifeboat_x000D_ Erling the Bold_x000D_ The Battle and the Breeze_x000D_ The Cannibal Islands_x000D_ Lost in the Forest_x000D_ Digging for Gold_x000D_ Sunk at Sea_x000D_ The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands_x000D_ The Iron Horse_x000D_ The Norsemen in the West_x000D_ The Pioneers_x000D_ Black Ivory_x000D_ Life in the Red Brigade_x000D_ Fort Desolation_x000D_ The Pirate City_x000D_ The Story of the Rock_x000D_ Rivers of Ice_x000D_ Under the Waves_x000D_ The Settler and the Savage_x000D_ In the Track of the Troops_x000D_ Jarwin and Cuffy_x000D_ Philosopher Jack_x000D_ Post Haste_x000D_ The Lonely Island_x000D_ The Red Man's Revenge_x000D_ My Doggie and I_x000D_ The Giant of the North_x000D_ The Madman and the Pirate_x000D_ The Battery and the Boiler_x000D_ The Thorogood Family_x000D_ The Young Trawler_x000D_ Dusty Diamonds, Cut and Polished_x000D_ Twice Bought_x000D_ The Island Queen_x000D_ The Rover of the Andes_x000D_ The Prairie Chief_x000D_ The Lively Poll_x000D_ Red Rooney_x000D_ The Big Otter_x000D_ The Fugitives_x000D_ Blue Lights_x000D_ The Middy and the Moors_x000D_ The Eagle Cliff_x000D_ The Crew of the Water Wagtail_x000D_ Blown to Bits_x000D_ The Garret and the Garden_x000D_ Jeff Benson_x000D_ Charlie to the Rescue_x000D_ The Coxswain's Bride_x000D_ The Buffalo Runners_x000D_ The Hot Swamp_x000D_ Hunted and Harried_x000D_ The Walrus Hunters_x000D_ Wrecked but not Ruined_x000D_ Six Months at the Cape_x000D_ Memoirs:_x000D_ Personal Reminiscences in Book Making

The Complete Novels of R. M. Ballantyne

Author: R. M. Ballantyne
Publisher: Good Press
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 13416

Book Description
This carefully crafted ebook: "The Complete Novels of R. M. Ballantyne" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents: The Coral Island Snowflakes and Sunbeams (The Young Fur Traders) Ungava Martin Rattler The Dog Crusoe and his Master The World of Ice The Gorilla Hunters The Golden Dream The Red Eric Away in the Wilderness Fighting the Whales The Wild Man of the West Fast in the Ice Gascoyne The Lifeboat Chasing the Sun Freaks on the Fells The Lighthouse Fighting The Flames Silver Lake Deep Down Shifting Winds Hunting the Lions Over the Rocky Mountains Saved by the Lifeboat Erling the Bold The Battle and the Breeze The Cannibal Islands Lost in the Forest Digging for Gold Sunk at Sea The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands The Iron Horse The Norsemen in the West The Pioneers Black Ivory Life in the Red Brigade Fort Desolation The Pirate City The Story of the Rock Rivers of Ice Under the Waves The Settler and the Savage In the Track of the Troops Jarwin and Cuffy Philosopher Jack Post Haste The Lonely Island The Red Man's Revenge My Doggie and I The Giant of the North The Madman and the Pirate The Battery and the Boiler The Thorogood Family The Young Trawler Dusty Diamonds, Cut and Polished Twice Bought The Island Queen The Rover of the Andes The Prairie Chief The Lively Poll Red Rooney The Big Otter The Fugitives Blue Lights The Middy and the Moors The Eagle Cliff The Crew of the Water Wagtail Blown to Bits The Garret and the Garden Jeff Benson Charlie to the Rescue The Coxswain's Bride The Buffalo Runners The Hot Swamp Hunted and Harried The Walrus Hunters Wrecked but not Ruined Six Months at the Cape Memoirs: Personal Reminiscences in Book Making