A FAMILY AT
WAR |
Nicholas McHale, an ex-Sheringham lad, has now returned safely home, he served in the Gulf
War with 23 Pioneer, 206 Squadron, 7 Troop and is still only eighteen years old! He spent
over 5 months in the Gulf, both in Kuwait and Iraq and they were some of the first land
troops to go in. Although Nick is very young, his experiences over the last few months
have made him mature very quickly. If you walked past him on a Friday night you would
certainly be able to pick him out of the crowd. One reason for this is his smart
appearance and upright bearing, trademarks of our Service Personnel, sadly, another reason
is his reaction to sudden loud noises. From the very first landing in Kuwait, he tells us,
they were under fire EVERY day. The first attack when they were in Kuwait was from scud
missiles, which resulted in him, wearing his NBC Suit (protection from Nuclear, Biological
and Chemical attacks) for three days. As well as carrying his kit which weighed over 50lbs
and he also carried the troops' big gun the GPMG, which meant that he was often positioned
on the top of buildings. This was a very uncomfortable and frightening entry into the war
for them all. Nick has some very bad memories of his time in the Gulf, some that he
described to us we will not print, however, believe it or not, he has also collected some
good memories. Sandstorms turned everything orange and the oil burning everything was
black, always difficult to breathe. During one patrol they were caught in a classic
ambush, if they went up the street they were fired on and when they went back the other
way there was more weapons fire. In the end they got out of that situation thanks to a
tank taking out the building where the threat was coming from. He told us that the most
outstanding memory for him would always be the kids of his age who came to them for help,
many of them had limbs missing, not as the result of Allied Forces fire. The language
barrier was soon overcome, when people of different races try they CAN get on, the Allies
were able to help the locals to a great extent. For most of us here in Sheringham, when it
is announced that our service personnel are going to war or other places of danger, we do
not think about them as people, people with families who love them. This latest in a long
line of wars/conflicts has taken its toll on many of us. Nicholas's Mum, Dad, Brothers and
Sister are also victims of this war. There was no post on either side to begin with, it
took 12 days for him to get his first letter. When he did receive his letters and pictures
he was unable to keep them, they had to be destroyed. The lack of news put great strain on
the family, they lived in fear of 'the knock on the door'. Sadly, Nick's time in
Sheringham was marred by bullying, a disease of our society, but he has overcome this
obstacle and is a man his family can be proud of.
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Matt aged 7 years
It's very difficult to describe how I felt when Nick went to war, I hated it, I was
very sad and frightened I wouldn't see him again.
Jack aged 10 years |
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Below: Some children happy to pose with us outside their school.
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Above:There were only 10 soldiers here to keep order as the Iraqi locals tried to collect
food & water rations. An hour later there were five times as many. An impossible task.
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The day the war was announced I didn't know what I felt, sick, frightened, scared were
just a few feelings. As it was reported on TV, I became obsessed with watching it,
sometimes nearly all day and night. I began to have panic attacks, shakes and couldn't
even hold a cup of tea without spilling it. I didn't want my brother to die out there.
I think the worst fear was not knowing where he was, not being able to hear his voice and
not seeing him.
I think the day it was announced the war was over, I jumped for joy, cried and never felt
so happy. My bro was safe. In his letter he changed from just writing, to growing up. I
was going to see a new brother when he came home.
In the outside world people didn't understand how I felt, my 18 year old brother was
fighting. We had our own fight at home.
Sam McHale aged 21
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| Despite receiving anonymous letters accusing us at the
paper of being racist war mongers, which we are NOT, we stand by our article in Issue 11
and support our service personnel. We have never said that we agreed or disagreed with the
war as we do not feel that we should use this paper as OUR mouthpiece. If the anonymous
person would like to send in a signed letter, we would be happy to reply. |
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