Snapshots - Frank Kelly

. .

Résumé :
In this memoir, Frank M. Kelly deftly details life in Britain, from the start of the Great Depression through to the end of the London Blitz and the Second World War. Evoking William Blake's Jerusalem, Kelly vividly recalls the contrasting life in the dense, industrial lands of our capital and with its 'dark Satantic mills', to life as an evacuee in the West Country's peaceful 'pleasant pastures green'. Kelly expertly paints the life of the evacuee who was 'coming of age' at such a difficult time for the Britain, and indeed the rest of the world, and the adjustments one was forced to make in both a post and pre-war world. Each page is imbued with pathos and dark humour; Snapshots is a must read for those with an interest in Second World War Britain, and for the amateur historian. As Kelly himself says, it is important for each generation to learn from the past, and who better to guide you through London, and indeed England, during the Blitz than a man who lived through it?

Biographie:
Born in London 1931, Frank was evacuated, for a short time, at the outbreak of the Second World War. Back home, Frank went through some bombing raids; in particular, the 'Doodlebugs', the flying bomb and, later, the more threatening V2 rockets.

At eighteen years of age, he was conscripted to two years' army service.

He later joined the Merchant Navy in 1957, travelling the world in a tramp steamer.

Frank emigrated to Australia in 1960, where he worked on major dam and road projects and as a kangaroo shooter in the outback, New South Wales. He met his first wife, and with three children to support, got a permanent job with NSW railways.