Stratford woman publishes her father’s wartime diary 80 years after it was written

“For me the preservation of his diaries and what they tell us is so important,” Carol told the Herald. “It is fairly recent in our history and he made an inscription every single day and what we are looking at is a young man being thrown into war. When I transcribed the diaries I really had to read them carefully because my father used words in a way that has changed since the war and so have the names of countries and places. I had difficulty seeing some pages because he’d written them in a sandstorm of in a jungle.”

Fred’s diary entries are from the heart and at times quite graphic after what he’d witnessed. He wrote in one:

“There must have been some terrible battles, for there are burnt out trucks by the 100, charred bodies and skeletons, still wearing tin hats; some ghastly sights.”

In another diary entry he talks about the deadly toll war takes on a man’s health.

“I found another M.T. fellow, just come in but I hardly knew him; he looked so ill and has lost about three stone. The poor beggars aren’t half getting it rough, for it is a fight against nature, let alone the Japs.”

Carol said her father stopped making friends during the war because it was probably too painful to keep dealing with the news of those who lost their lives.

He suffered shell shock – a type of PTSD – which affected him mentally for a very long time. He and other soldiers were captured by the Japanese but escaped in a truck.

It really is an incredible account of one young man’s survival thousands of miles away from home.

There are also lots of photographs in Fred’s diary collection bringing it to life. The is even a picture of Dame Vera Lynn visiting troops in the Far East in 1943.

Among the belongings - which Carol still has - is a road map of India with routes marked out. She has his sign-up and demob papers, his slouch hat or bush hat, a waterproof map bag and a ration book.

When the war was over, Fred was frustrated. In his later diary entries he points to the failings of the army.

“They were promised the earth, a hero’s welcome but when they disembarked at Liverpool docks there were no people, they had come back to nothing,” Carol said. “He was de-mobbed to Budbrooke and admitted to Warwick Hospital with malnutrition, dysentery and weighed seven stone. His teeth and hair were falling out... but he was cared for by a nurse called Ruby who was to become his wife.”

The couple had three daughters. Carol’s sisters are Linda, who the book is dedicated to, and Jane, who suggested writing the book.

“Like so many of his generation, my father never really spoke of his wartime experiences, particularly in the jungles of Burma. So for me, digesting his accounts, written by his hand all those decades ago, has felt like we have finally had the conversations we were never able to have while he was still alive,” Carol said.

The family lived in Whitnash and at the age of 50 Fred started his own business called A H Spares – Austin Healey Spares – selling motor parts for the famous British sports car.

Fred lived to be 67. Carol thinks that like so many men of that generation the war probably had an impact in his early death.

What was he like as a man?

“He was a mechanic and he repaired our cars when needed. He was fantastic with wood and made our kitchen cupboards. My father was a proud man, quite a perfectionist and liked people to have good table manners,” Carol said.

Looking back on the 18 months she spent transcribing and editing A Private War, Carol said it was like a jigsaw puzzle coming together. So how would Fred regard the book?

“It’s called a Private War which was my sister Jane’s suggestion and it’s the one I liked best because he was a private in the army and it’s his private memories. I think he would have understood the need for the book and taken a holistic approach to it because he was a great lover of history and the book helps keep the memory alive,” said Carol.

During her career Carol has been a teacher at Stratford College and Warwickshire College.

She has nothing but praise for the publishers who guided her along the way in writing her dad’s memoir; and she recalls the huge satisfaction when the book was finally published.

“Although dad didn’t really talk about the war, when it came to Remembrance Sunday on the television he would watch and cry each year. It’s been an incredible journey. I’m thrilled and proud with the book because it’s spot on now,” Carol said.

A Private War The diaries of Frederick George Draper 1939 – 1945 is published on 10th November.

For more information visit: www.zsazsapublishing.com