Herbert
Posted by Rob | Filed under All Drawings, Devon, People, Portraits, UK
Herbert Riley, born 1 December 1914 (until he joined the army when he saw his birth certificate which said he was born 21 December - his mother thought it was too close to Christmas!)
Spent the second world war in Burma fighting the Japenese, his stories on this passage of his life bring tears to your eyes and great lessons in humility.
His wife is in the last stages of suffering from Alzheimer’s and he travels 30 miles everyday to go and see her, she hasn’t opened her eyes for over a week.
Last year at the annual garden party he was complaining about the state of his jumper. It had a small hole in a seam, but it looked quite old to us so we asked him when he bought it:
“Oh, its from M&S and I bought it in the winter of 1937, it hasn’t done me bad”
A truly wonderful man.
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