The country came together today as we remembered the sacrifices of those who came before us. We asked four of our new candidates ahead of the 2023 elections to tell us a little more about the history of military service within their own families. You can also read a similar article we produced last year when we asked our sitting councillors for their own family’s service history.

Gareth Myton – Fort Pitt

“My grandad along with his brothers joined the Territorial Army (Pre-War). One was in a reserved occupation – a miner so couldn’t serve, but my great uncle and grandad both served in the army. My great uncle ended up in the 4th Royal Tank Regiment as part of the British Expeditionary Force in France, was subsequently evacuated from Dunkirk, then sent to North Africa where he was captured when Tobruk finally fell in 1942. He then spent the rest of the war in a POW camp first in Italy and then Germany.

“My grandad (pictured below) ended up in the Royal Artillery as an Anti Aircraft Gunner and Instructor based all over the UK for most of the war training men and women in the use of Anti Aircraft guns and the relevant predictor equipment. He volunteered to go to the Far East in the last year of the War and spent much of 1945 in India.”

“My other grandfather was an ARP Warden as he was also in a reserved occupation and both my grandmothers worked two jobs during the war, one in a tank factory.”

Mark Jones – Strood West

“My Paternal Grandfather fought in WW1, he served in the army pay core between 1914 and 1922, when defence cuts led to the end of his military career.

“He attained the rank of Sergeant, was posted to Palestine and was part of the later British Expedition to Persia. (During the First World War, the Persian campaign was alternatively known as the “Invasion of Iran”. Whilst Persia declared itself neutral in WW1, its strategic position between British ruled India and Imperial Russia etc, led to foreign interest in its affairs!!).

“I believe a great uncle on my Mother’s side, fought in the Battle of the Somme (1916).”

Louwella Prenter  – Gillingham South

“My father left Fiji at the age of 18 and joined the British Army in 1961. He served in the Cheshire Regiment stationed in Germany as part of the British Army of the Rhine and Cyprus as part of the UN peacekeeping force. He competed for the United Services in athletics.”

Linda Bowen – Rochester West

“One of my maternal great grandfathers served in the first world war and lost an eye. Neither of my grandfathers served (one was Irish and one a coal miner – a reserved occupation).”