A Soldier’s Story: In conversation with Mike Wood
Wednesday 2 September, 6.30pm
With an introduction by General Lord Dannatt, former head of the British army, join Norwich author Mike Wood at our first virtual Jarrold book event, in discussion about his new critically acclaimed new book, A Soldier's Story, a powerful memoir of World War II. Mike will be in conversation with actor and narrator of A Soldier’s Story audiobook, Malcolm Tomlinson, and the event will also feature special guest speaker General The Lord Dannatt GCB, CBE, MC, DL.
A Soldier’s Story is a fascinating insight into the life of an ordinary soldier during World War II; that soldier was Mike Wood’s father, Neville ‘Timber’ Wood, whose story emerged from diaries, photographs and stories of the war he shared with Mike before his death in 2015. Like hundreds of thousands of others, Timber volunteered for military service in 1939, aged eighteen. As part of the British Army’s Tyne-Tees 50th Northumbrian Division (a division awarded more Victoria Crosses than any other) his duties included being one of the last off the beach at Dunkirk, one of the first back on it on D-Day and fighting at the heart of El Alamein.
About the Book
A Soldier's Story: Neville 'Timber' Wood's War, From Dunkirk to D-Day.
Like hundreds of thousands of others, Neville ‘Timber’ Wood volunteered for military service in 1939, aged eighteen. Joining the British Army’s Tyne-Tees 50th Northumbrian Division, Timber was an ordinary young man – the son of a Hull butcher, rising no higher than a Lance Corporal but who returned in 1945 having had an ‘extraordinary’ war.
This book, written by his son Mike, is based on Neville’s extensive wartime diaries, photographs and original documents he retained until his death in 2015. As part of an 85th birthday present, Mike transcribed long conversations between father and son alongside these diaries and this forms the basis of A Soldier’s Story.
As part of the 50th Northumbrian (a division awarded more Victoria Crosses than any other and a principle fighting division for the British Army) Neville was one of the last off the beach at Dunkirk, one of the first back on it on D-Day and at the heart of El Alamein. As a driver for the Royal Army Service Corps he provided the front line with ammunition and high explosives – a job with one of the highest casualty rates. Taking part in the invasion of Sicily, and the push from Normandy to Germany, Neville saw first-hand the horrors of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
About Mike Wood
MIKE WOOD is the youngest of Timber's three sons, the one to whom he talked extensively about the war. A Soldier's Story is the memoir that emerged from Timber's diaries and stories. Based in Norwich, this is Mike's first book.