The purpose of this blog site is to provide updates on the publication of the book that I have been involved in writing since January 2014. The book now entitled 'A Pithead Polar Bear From Brighton to Belsen 1940 to 1946' is an attempt to understand what my late Grandfather, L/Cpl James Kitchener Heath did during the Second World War.

'A Pithead Polar Bear' is the culmination of another internet blog project that I started, entitled 'A Fragmented Military History', the name being an acknowledgement of the limited information that I had to go on and just how much there was to learn. The original site can be accessed from this site and in many ways can be thought of as being complementary to the published book.

James, or Jim, Heath was an ordinary citizen soldier signed up for the duration of the war. His experiences over the six years of the conflict are similar to those of many thousands of infantry men whilst at the same time unique to him.

My sincere hope for this book is that it may in some part inspire like minded people to take up the challenge to explore a similar history for one of their own relatives. My message is that it can be done even seventy plus years after the events described. It is also hugely rewarding.

Somewhere down the line I wrote words to the following effect, 'in my dealings with our veterans it has become clear that it is not our thanks they seek for what they did but our understanding'. That for me is justification enough for such an undertaking as this.



Thursday, June 1, 2017

Update on Publication Date

Hi,

I decided to postpone the publication date by one week in order to be in a position to include some additional photographs and information resulting from my most recent visit to Normandy in mid-May. I think that the poignancy and relevance of this additional information justifies this additional delay many times over.

I have been informed by the publisher that the books should be with me by 9th June at which point I can start sending them out.

As I have stated on the flyer and elsewhere, the book proceeds will be split between projects relevant to both the 59th (Staffordshire) Division and the 49th (West Riding) Division. Given the fact that my Grandfather transferred to the 11th RSF after the conclusion of the Battle of Normandy, my focus in this area has always been on the 59th Division. This fact took me back to Thury Harcourt, a significant Norman town on the west bank of the Orne that was liberated by the men of the 59th Division in August 1944.

Previously I had been here oblivious that I was in extremely close proximity to a recently opened permanent exhibition to the town's liberators.

The Old Fire Station, located within 10 meters of the main 59th Division memorial now houses the start of a permanent tribute to the men who fell (and indeed those that survived) in the Division's ultimately successful efforts to liberate the town.

It was on an early Friday morning the my travelling companion, Owen, and I met up with a lovely lady by the name of Micheline Guillerm, the  'French Connection' in terms of the 59th (Staffordshire) Division, a.k.a. 'The Friends of Thury Harcourt'. Micheline was a young witness to the liberation and the recollections of the events have stayed with her in the intervening years.

We discussed the meaning of the museum and plans for possible expansion into additional rooms of the old station. I told her of my proposal to make a donation to the project and at this she welled up. I hope that Micheline is the first and last French lady I make cry!


Adrian and Micheline Guillerm
Thury Harcourt May 2017.


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