Ahead of the 80th anniversary of VJ Day on Friday 15 August, Kenilworth Nub News is sharing a short series on the town's connections to the Second World War and the war in the Pacific. The town will mark VJ Day with a short service at the Abbey Fields war memorial at 11am on Friday.

Today's account comes from Richard Dakin, Anne Holmes and Sandra Driver.

George Roberts Dakin - born 27 August 1916 - declared for active service on 3 September 1939 while he was living at 53 Albion Street, Kenilworth 

Like most men who served in Burma and the Far East, our dad did not like to talk about his experiences in the war.

We witnessed his emotions on certain occasions either when something was triggered by stories in the media (the death of Lord Mountbatten being one), whenever Vera Lynn was singing or if the Gurkhas were mentioned.

We know he held "Johnny Gurkha" in high esteem and spoke fondly of them.

Our mum told us he suffered nightmares most likely due to deep rooted emotions and memories. Just before he died he did talk in his sleep about being buried alive.

It was clear from his words that this had been a harrowing experience. Even our mum was not aware of this so he had obviously buried it deep in his subconscious. 

George Dakin was not posted until 4 June 1942

Although declared on active service on 3 September 1939, Dad was not posted until 4 June 1942, continuing his work as a bricklayer until then.

He was posted as a Gunner to the 50th Anti-Tank Training Regiment B Battery of the Royal Artillery based at Church Stretton. One of the few things he did mention in passing was the training exercises on the Long Mynd but he didn't elaborate on details. 

Just over a month later he was posted to the Royal Artillery 176th Field Regiment Q Battery and then moved with them to Launceston, Cornwall on 24 September 1942.

From our own research this appears to have been further training and defence of the British coastline.

Dad's training appears to have ended on 22 December 1942 and he embarked for Bombay on 16 January 1943.

The journey there was a long one lasting almost three months with disembarkation on 8 April 1943.

He appears to have then been taken to a camp at Deolali arriving on 14 April 1943. We suspect this would have involved a march there as we don't imagine transfer taxis were waiting!

Deolali was not a permanent garrison, merely a transit point for soldiers and "Doolally" became a slang term for "mad" or "eccentric" due to the poor conditions and the waiting around some soldiers had to endure in these conditions. 

However, Dad wasn't there for too long as his records show a transfer to the 240th Field Regiment in Ceylon on 18 June 1943 where he remained for just over five months.

He transferred back to India on 27 November 1943 where, he was shown as attending two Signallers Courses in June and November 1944. 

In April 1945, Dad was classified as sick and our memories recall him talking about having Malaria so we suspect that was at this point.

It's not clear how long he was considered "sick" but in September 1945 he was posted to 28th Field Regiment and then almost straight on to 115th Field Regiment. 

On 2 April 1946 he was moved to a transit camp ready for repatriation, embarking from Rangoon on the sixth of that month. 

He then spent six months at Woolwich Barracks until his return home on 24 December 1946.

During his time there he was employed as a gunner and a member of the regimental police, none of which we were aware of until receipt of his army records after he passed away.

His military conduct was declared as exemplary and he was described as an honest, trustworthy and reliable man with a good sense of responsibility and able to carry out tasks without supervision.

We feel he displayed these qualities throughout his life and instilled those same qualities into us in a quiet and unassuming manner. He had a real sense of justice and fairness to his fellow man and again displayed those always, again instilling those into our lives. 

Surprisingly he was still considered as part of "Reserve Liability" until the end of June 1959, just before his youngest child was born - so in the time that he had left Woolwich, married and had children he could still have been recalled to duty.

It must have been a relief to him after his experiences to know he would not be called upon again in that capacity.

In fact, Dad's reluctance to talk or think about his experiences meant he only claimed his war medals in November 1966 and after much persuasion from his family.

He did join the local Burma Star Association later and was proud to be involved with their parades/events etc. - perhaps this afforded him the opportunity to be with people who understood the difficulties they had all faced.