Memories of the War - Dick and Elaine Sheppard
Dick Arthur Sheppard was 19 when he landed on 6th June 1944 (D-Day).
He met his wife (Elaine) in France, and they used to send love letters. Elaine immigrated to the UK to marry Richard. They met in Criquetot-l'Esneval where Elaine lived, when she gave Richard some milk to go with his tea.
Elaine mostly ate sweets and turnips during the War, so refused to cook them later in life!
Elaine's house was bombed and when she came home only the gate was left.
Richard suggests that young people watch "Saving Private Ryan" to get the best idea of what it felt like to be in that situation.
Richard fought in the Battle of Rauray, Normandy.
On D-Day, Dick's sergeant (Sgt Albert George) was shot in the head by a sniper. He was buried in Ryves. Dick and Elaine wanted their ashes to be scattered there by the sergeant's grave.
Dick was demobbed in 1946 and he returned to his old job on the railways as a shunter. In 1950 he went to work in a tripe factory for a local butcher. He was still living with his mother in Cardiff but in 1956 his boss loaned him the money to buy a small house in Grangetown, Cardiff. The contributor’s elder brother was born in 1949, the contributor was born in 1952, and her youngest brother was born in 1956.
In 1959 they moved to the house in which the contributor now lives in in Llandaff, Cardiff. In 1962 Dick joined the Post Office as a postman and remained there until his retirement.
The contributor’s Mum was a housewife from the time she came to Wales and brought up the contributor and her two brothers. The contributor’s mother actually taught French to students privately and around 1968 she worked as a cleaner in a school. In 1971 she was working for an engineering company who asked her to go to Algiers to translate documents, which she did, and stayed with this company (as an accounts clerk) until she retired.
The contributor always felt that her mother was a very clever woman. She said she always wanted to be a teacher but as the eldest in her family, she left school at 14 and worked in a grocer’s shop in her little village in France.
The contributor now lives in the family home in Llandaff, the house that was left to her and her siblings. The contributor’s younger brother lives next door and her elder brother lives in Caerphilly on the outskirts of Cardiff.
There were three children from the marriage: the contributor and her two brothers. From the contributor and her elder brother there are 5 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren (ages ranging from 14 to 32 years).
NOTE: Additional information was provided after the Digital Collection Day.
