Tommy Hall was 14 years old when his father died and he took responsibility for his family, by replacing his father in the same factory. In 1945 he was 18, when he was flown in a Glider to the east side of the Rhine. 

Landing in the fields south-east of Hamminkeln, as all hell let loose around him; his comrades dying through gun fire, explosions or burnt alive. 

20 years later, Tommy tells his son Geoffrey a few bedtime stories about ‘what he did in the war’. They are like the fragments of a broken mirror, but they will leave an impression on his son; that there has to be a better way than violence to change the world. The broken mirror is repaired, so that others may see that war is never about glory. Shattered lives leave shattered reflections in the mirror of history. 

SYNOPSIS:

Memories of my Dad telling me stories of what he went through in the war are like trying to piece a broken mirror back together. We have the shattered fragments of memory, but it all seems disjointed and incoherent.

For an 18 year old the heat of battle is like that, images of horror burnt onto the retina, into his memories and haunting him for many years after. When we try to repair those fragmented reflections they seem jumbled, providing an incoherent narrative. However, slowly I'm piecing this all together and trying to frame it in a way that others may understand, that as my father said, 'There is no glory in war'.

I've found my Dad's service records and received two of the three 'conflict' medals he was awarded. He was in North-West Europe from March through to May '45, until the German capitulation. From there he was transferred to the Mediterranean Expeditionary Forces in Palestine and after that he was on duty in Vienna, Austria, finally returning home to his family in 1948.

I'm going to focus on his service in Europe 1945, and I'll record some very precious and poignant memories that he shared with me as a young boy, some twenty years after his Hamminkeln experiences, as he fought his way from there through Osnabruck, Bergen-Belsen and on to Wismar, for the Nazi surrender.

It's a personal pilgrimage, but sometimes the best stories come from that emotional connection; for me to try and understand a little more of who my Dad was. He passed away in 2005, dying of COPD acquired from the metalworkers factory where he continued to work after the war until his retirement, but with a totally different perspective on life.

So what will this film, this story be like? My wife and I many years ago went to see 'A Bridge too Far'. She hated the film and as we returned home we went to see my Mum and Dad. Dad asked Jeanette what she thought of it. She said she hated the film. Dad enquired further as to why this was and she said, "Because it was ever so pointless, a waste of human life. They just threw troops at the bridge and all to gain a few feet of ground." My Dad replied. "But why should that surprise you? There is no glory in war, just a tragic loss of life."

With that in mind, I'm writing this screenplay. There is no glory in war. There is courage and sacrifice, but if we think that military conflict is the best way to change the world, then this film will show why redemptive violence is a myth. My aim is to take those images that flashed onto his retinas, leaving him with indelible memories and to reflect them on to yours. Maybe we'll all come to the same conclusion? That war comes from the failure of our politicians to understand that all ordinary people want to do, is live in peace.

The photo I've added to this entry, is of Airborne troops posed in a Bren Gun Carrier. (My dad was a Bren Gunner, but here he's holding a Sten Gun). For years I've look at photos of the action around Hamminkeln, hoping to 'find' him. Last week, I came across this photo shot in Hamminkeln on 25th March, 1945. My Dad is the chap stood in the front of the Carrier wearing his (red) Airborne Division beret! Yes, I cried a little. What was I, or my kids for that matter, doing when we were 18? I can't remember, but here I have an image of Dad aged 18, seeing the world explode around him. He's looking away from the camera and over the years I saw that look many times...and now I know what it means.