The intentions to document this information are long standing in that they go back some two decades to the early/mid 1990’s, just a few years before the subject of this site, James Kitchener Heath passed away.

As is the case in so many families in which a generation experienced war and all its traumas, certain aspects of service are known, but all too often the details are sketchy and disjointed. Add into this mix the passage of time and the result is invariably a collection of stories and fragments of memories accompanied by a handful of fragile and faded documents (if you are lucky) that represent the sum of information relating to the most extraordinary period in a soldier’s life. This was certainly the case in our family..... and it’s not much to go on.

In February 1995, my Father and I struggled to put together a potted service history to be read by the cleric presiding over my Grandfather’s funeral. At this point I decided to take steps to fill in some of the gaps as best I could.... sadly now without the benefit of first hand testimony.

A well known turn of phrase, ‘written on the back of a fag packet’ is defined by the Collins on-Line dictionary as something ‘composed or formed quickly and without detailed analysis or research’. As far as first hand source material for this history is concerned, no better a description could be made. The details gleaned from my Grandfather in brief (and often emotional) discussions in the 1990’s are summarised as a list of place names written in an old man’s shaky handwriting on the back of a standard envelope! (this will feature later). On the upside, a standard envelope is approximately twice the size of a cigarette packet, which immediately doubles the amount of information to work with!

By my own admission, this site is a little self-indulgent, being of primary interest to myself, my mother, my children and a handful of relatives still living in Staffordshire. In addition, it may be that the information presented here will be read by others outside of the family who have a passing interest in military or family history.

I would welcome any comments/suggestions or dare I say it relevant information to contact me.

adrianandrews@myyahoo.com

Sunday 3 December 2017

'Where's The Bear?' Roosendaal, Holland 16th May 2015

Fresh off the Beveland Peninsula and a little wind burned we next headed to Roosendaal as we continued our Polar Bear trail. With not much time to spend in this city our visit was intended to be something of a ‘hit and run’ to the Polar Bear memorial before heading out of town. This would have been the case had the navigator (i.e. me) had the foresight of planning and noted down the location of this memorial in advance. As it was after completing several circuits of the central streets of the town we were on the verge of admitting defeat when we came across its location quite by accident.





Compared to the quiet dignity of the memorial at Wuustwezel, the monument in Roosendaal is rather disappointing. Sited in a small square at the intersection of Tufberg and Kade, the inscriptions on the plinth have suffered at the hands of the elements and the poor old Polar Bear that looks out across Roosendaal would benefit from the brief attention of a sand blaster. The burger van parked up against the base did nothing to enhance the moment. Nevertheless, none of these cosmetic flaws in any way detract from the significance of the memorial to the people of the city.



The inscription on the monument, translated from Dutch reads:

TO COMMEMORATE THE
LIBERATION OF ROOSENDAAL
ON 26 - 30 OCTOBER 1944
BY THE POLAR BEAR DIVISION

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