What we read as children ....

I've written several times before about those things from our childhood that might have inspired us in our hobby. The influences are many and varied. Without any doubt at all we can say that the things our parents do matter, even if they don't set out to have those influences on us. My Dad's model making mattered to me.

Similarly what we read as children matters. My parents weren't highly educated, but they understood that reading mattered, so there were always plenty of books around. As we cleared out our parents' house, and then reduced our own accumulation of 'stuff', we'd thinned out the book collections. I did keep several of my own childhood books, and this was one of them.

Looking for something to read the other evening, I grabbed this book from the shelves and read it. It was published in 1962, and this is a 1962 edition. The memories flooded back. The 'Fighting Four' were four tommies who had gone through Dunkirk, trained as commandoes, and been involved in several tight situations in that role. They are members of the LRDG operating in North Africa, and are asked to support the first SAS raid on a German airfield well behind Rommel's lines. Things don't quite go to plan, and the four are left to find their way back to British lines, taking their seriously wounded commanding officer with them. They capture an Italian fort (yes, just the four of them) kidnap an Italian doctor, get captured .. and so it goes on.

I did once also have a copy of the prequel by AR Channel, "The Fighting Four", but it must have been culled as I reduced book volumes. It was a story of a commando raid on a German heavy water plant in Norway. A little part of me wishes I'd kept it.

With books like this, and with my father's inspiring model making, it's little wonder that I became a wargamer with a deep interest in military history. I think this was an unintended consequence of their action. They were not fans of military history per se.

The book itself is a fun read, one of those inspiring reads for children. Despite its age and my years I enjoyed it.