My Dad - Alfred Wyles - fought in the Ox & Bucks Light Infantry (Territorials) and was involved in the Normandy D-Day Landings around Sword Beach and the Caen area of Northwest France! The Ox & Bucks landed on Sword Beach and had to fight their way in-land to 'relieve' the Ox & Bucks Unit (Professional) that had landed earlier as 'Glider Troops' (British Airborne) around the Canal System at Caen. It seems that the 'Territorial' and 'Professional' Ox & Bucks trained together in preparation around the similar-looking Exeter Canal System! As the 'Light Bobs' (as the 1st Buckinghamshire Battalion was known) had to join-up with their counter-parts in that formed the Glider Troops - it is only logical that they got to know the area and conditions of operation. Of course, there are conflicting stories which are probably the products of incomplete or muddled thinking. As my father bequeathed a 'Winged Pegasus' badge apparently from his Uniform - some say he took part in the Glider Landings (his wife - my Mum - Gladys Kilmurray always maintained that he was a 'Commando' who received 'Hazardous Duties' payments! The strange thing is that the NOD - when providing his War Record - would not give any details of his exact deployment and would not confirm or deny any of our family stories. Still, younger members of our family did find out (through a historian in an Oxford Military Museum) - that out exactly what his British Army Unit was and that it had landed on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day 1944! Further credibility to the family stories was given by the uncovering of the connection with Caen! Whatever the case, my father's Unit suffered heavy casualties on D-Day (he lost all his friends) and thereafter - making him fight for his life in the French countryside as a 'Straggler' - who was eventually taken in by the Gordon Highlanders! He fought his way to Hamburg over the next year or so - before he was eventually granted 'Leave' from the stresses of continuous 'Frontline' duty! He returned to the UK in late 1945 and remained a soldier in the British Army until mid-1946 when he was Demobilised. I believe he ended his formal military career in the Duke of Cornwall Light Infantry. I am told that 'Light Infantry' Units are flanking formations comprised of 'Sharp-Shooters'! In other words, my father would have been a very good shot!
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Kai-Lin (left) and Mei-An (right) - my two beautiful grand-daughters from South London! Life is short and we must treat one another with love and respect. What else is there? Children carry-on our genetics and retain the memories of who we are - their ancestors! Our children and grand-children must build a better and more loving world! Wisdom and compassion are the keys that will build a better world! Many people are psychologically and physically damaged by various events that they have experienced in their lives! This observation is stronger than any government, any Court or any army! Anyone can do anything to our bodies - but we possess the ability to strengthen our minds and expand our hearts! Who can beat this? No one! A person can have any amount of worldly power - but it means absolutely NOTHING without a heart that emits a boundless and all enveloping love for all beings! All beings - that is every form of life past, present or future - are all equally valid! I love all of you without exception. You do not have to like me, support me, care about me or even think I am useful in anyway - I need NOTHING from you! I LOVE you without exception no matter who you are or what you have done (or not done). I do not care about your history because LOVE permeates everywhere and all the time. When I look and wave at you - you are immediately free! More than this - when we meet the value of your being FREES me!
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