THE EDGAR STORY OF TRUE GRIT

Building up to the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day on May 8th, 1945. I’m celebrating my family heroes that made their contribution in that great war effort-like many other families with their own stories to tell.

My other grandad, Edgar Kelway, was a keen pianist and musician and was born and brought up in Plymouth.

He was called up in 1940 and served manning artillery batteries in Plymouth and Bristol and lost his leg in 1941 during the Blitz when the huge gun backfired and nearly lost his life.

In the early years after the war, Grandad used to play a piano and accordion at the old Tin Pan Alley, where temporary market stalls were erected in Drake Street and Old Town Street.

He was a handicapped veteran, and my young dad was his other leg and support.

My dad used to earn threepence sweeping the pavements in Tin Pan Alley and giving the money to my Granny, where times were hard in those early post-war years in Eggbuckland village, where he grew up.

Edgar was a meat inspector at the Cattedown abattoir and passed away in the 1980s when he had a stroke at the wheel of his car on the Plymouth Embankment.

My grandad’s picture from 1940 in uniform is brought to life in this short animation, and he is a true family hero.

Front image: Credit. Flags and Flagpole