Out Of The Fire...

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I'll keep my powder dry on the latest family tree findings until I've heard from my cousin just how much information he has on his dad's war (WWII, European theatre). Suffice it say, there's anyone's lifetime on steroids packed into just two years of his young life at the time, and it's a wonder he survived any of it, let alone to go on and live a happy, long and normal life and raise a family in the process. Given the travails that have befallen most of my ancestors, it's frankly a wonder that any of us were born in the first place. We must be gifted with an extraordinarily stubborn genetic resilience.

Bouncing back from adversity of one kind or another, and without being too badly scarred in the process, seems to be a family trait. We certainly haven't had too many silver spoons to ease our paths in life, so I count it an honour and a privilege to have benefited from this tough old gene pool. I'll expand on the family tree allusions as soon as possible: but I need also to do some more background research in the light of recently discovered facts, so I can put as much flesh on the bones of this story as possible. It deserves it. Then it will back to WWI for the previous generation's war histories. Keep you posted...

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