The Story of ERIC GOLDREIN

...Eric was subsequently shipped back to Blighty to recover. He was then offered a variety of staff positions in England. However, Eric explains that he was still young and stupid, keen for more action, travel & adventure. Still with the Royal Artillery, he was shipped out at the end of 1944 and eventually landed in Salerno in Southern Italy. The war was still raging of course, but hostilities had moved away from Italy by that time and Eric celebrated VE Day just north of Florence. From there the troop, 300 men & 80 vehicles, traveled through the Brenner Pass and up to Hamburg where Eric was finally based as part of the Army of Occupation.

"We’d been at war for so long I don’t think we really thought much about what we would do once it was all over. There was a general superstitious attitude which would not allow us to have thoughts of post war plans.
We just didn’t talk about it."

Eric demobilised with the rank of Major and contacted his Cambridge Tutor who invited him back to continue his studies. So, after a return to the family home in Liverpool, Eric returned to University and subsequently graduated in Law. He returned to Liverpool, became a respected Barrister, married and raised a family. On
retirement Eric was elected as Lord Mayor of Hale.

But how does he look back on those days now? Was he just doing his job along with all the others or was he perhaps aware at the time of being a part of something very special?

"We were so proud to be involved. It was exciting; deadly dangerous of course but we didn’t dwell on that. We were young and believed in our own immortality as all youngsters do. More than anything else, I would say the greatest pleasure in looking back is not being dead. To have survived is the real triumph, especially when so many didn’t."

Eric still has the bullet which was shot into him on that evening in France, in the Summer of 1944.

"I often think... if that soldier had just moved the muzzle of his machine pistol ever so slightly, I would be under one of those Portland Stone monuments. As it happens the bullet missed anything important, I survived and have enjoyed 65 bonus years. We’ve had two children and they’re enjoying their own life. We’ve lived so much and I can honestly say the experience of those days has always helped me to put the rest of my life in perspective." ...