Trenches to Trams: The George Pine Story

Think of a traditional Father Christmas; take away the beard so that you can see a beaming smile and a pair of glasses; remove the hat to reveal a slightly balding head; and replace the tunic to display a cardigan, always buttoned. Now you have a picture of how my grandfather, George Pine, appeared to me as a child. George was not a well-educated man, few of his generation were, but he had the most incredible memory and could tell a wonderful, gripping story. He could remember 50 or 60 years ago as if it were yesterday. Later on in life George lived at a residential home in Southmead, Bristol. The whole Pine family used to visit him as often as we could, including me and my wife Fran. He would then suspend his self-appointed role of organising all the residents (a legacy of his Sergeant Major training) and after a little prompting, sit down to retell some of his stories, still wearing a cardigan with buttons up the front. We thought that these stories were so interesting that in early 1972 we asked him to write them down. What follows are the memories that George recorded. The account you can now read probably contains less than half of the details that George could remember. Fran and I were hoping to read his account and visit him to record any missing details, but he wanted to finish the whole story before we read it. Unfortunately, he never did quite finish. George might not have had academic qualifications but he had qualities of which I am tremendously proud and which he passed on to his children. These qualities were resourcefulness, a fierce determination to always do your best, perseverance despite the difficulties and a deep loyalty to, and love of, family. I am very grateful to my brother-in-law, who has demonstrated these same qualities in expanding on over 40,000 words of George's handwritten memories. Clive has worked tirelessly, following up every conceivable lead, filling in many gaps and expanding upon George's recollections. He has trawled through thousands of photographs and documents, delved in numerous public and private archives in the UK and abroad and visited France and Belgium, with friends and family, to follow George's story....