Review by Keith Annis

I have sat so many times to write my review of Nobber’s Boy. I found it an emotional insight into a closed part of our Forest of Dean history, so closed that I have never heard any Forester talk openly at length or read any school text that focused upon the Glosters campaign in Korea. Oddly I did know of the Imjin River battle well or so I thought. Having been an army cadet in Cinderford I associated the back badge of the Glosters with the Imjin battle. Alexandria was never mentioned to our cadet unit; it was the back to back fighting at the Imjin River which gave us the right to a second badge. I guess it was both but Imjin was clearly foremost in the minds of the adults marching us around the Triangle on Armistice Day. Yet I’m ashamed to say that we really knew nothing of this war and this book is a welcome glimpse into the bravery and sheer gutsy persistence of those who fought to lay down the 38th parallel.

I should first explain that I was born in Cinderford in 1955 and like many had nothing connecting me to the Second World War let alone the distant fight in Korea. Like Nobber’s Boy I played among the oaks and fields of the Forest of Dean, never happier than running after a football or slogging a cricket ball. The references to Ruardean touched me deeply as I had friends from there and Ruardean Hill.

I thought I had no link to Korea, or any war after WWII. My father like many Foresters was required to stay in the mines during the Second World War, and to be honest war was not a common topic of conversation in our house. We focused mainly on the football results but there were times when a hush would blanket the room as I walked in from kicking a ball in the garden. I didn’t realise why the quick silence fell when a 10 year old entered the room.

I realised later, much later, that the war had touched my family too. I have a distant memory that a family member had fought with the Chindits in Burma and, though it was never spoken outright, I believe he and his mates felt abandoned after VE day. Sometimes he had a vacant look in his eyes, a quietness, but never complained or spoke of his involvement in Burma.

It was this feeling that struck me when reading this emotionally powerful book. The feeling of isolation and loss, but also the just get on and do it attitude that so many showed. Heart breaking to think of the youth slaughtered on either side and I am so fortunate not to have been a part of that cruel world.

It was this family memory that gave a backdrop when I started reading this book and the brief stories of the Imjin River from my cadet days. Though I have to say war is not the first shelf I visit in a library, I started reading as I would any war story. The detached reader with some local interest but no more. As I read more I became more engaged with Nobbers Boy and his mates. I felt their camaraderie strengthen their commitment and I felt pain with their loss. It is a very human account.

Some way through the book I realised that I knew one of the men who was in the prisoner of war camp with Davy - Mick Turley, or Mr Turley to me. I believe he was with Davy pretty much throughout.

Mr Turley played cricket for Cinderford St Johns and I was privileged to play with him on a few occasions. I can’t say I knew him well as I was barely 18 and he was a good 20 years older than me. The etiquette of the mid 70s meant the youngsters would wait to be asked to talk to older people and to be honest Mr Turley was a very self-contained man. I remember him as a nice bloke but not one of those who went drinking after the game nor was he loud in any way. My Dad knew him quite well and hinted that Mr Turley had had a hard time in the war so we all just gave him space and time. No one sought to intrude and ask anything of his experience, our conversations if any were focused on the way the wicket was playing or the lack of cucumber in the sandwiches. My memory of our cricket matches is full sun all summer long so I may not be a faithful recorder of those brief times. There was though a bond securing our team and I believe we all respected Mr Turley.

This book delivers the horror of his youth in a relentless onslaught. I can recall lying in a ditch on Salisbury Plain, playing soldiers as a cadet and having the Gloucester boys charging up the slope at us Foresters. They over ran us easily. To think of Davy and Mick defending the hill for days firing Bren guns into the night the recoil thudding against young shoulders and bullets ripping mercilessly through their foe. As a 14 year old I could strip and rebuild a Bren gun blindfold and load the curved cartridge with .303 bullets in the dark. It is a heavy weapon so I hated having to carry it. Davy was barely 5 years older and had to use such skills to defend himself and his mates for days. I am not sure I could have lasted as long as they did.

I know in those childish war games I played in the cadets it was the team that got me through. This writing brings out so clearly the warmth and deep friendship Davy, Mick and the others had for one another. They were a damn good team. I am honoured to have known one of them.

I can only thank the author for opening the door to shine light on this part of the Forest’s history.

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By Brigadier (Retired) Martin Vine OBE, Last Serving Commanding Officer, 1 Glosters

Lynne Lambert’s remarkable book, ‘Nobber’s Boy', focuses on her late uncle, Pte ‘Davy’ Gardiner, then a young National Serviceman serving in A Company, 1 Glosters, and his best friend, Roy Mills. Roy is one of the last 6 surviving Gloster veterans of the Battle of Imjin River. Nobber’s Boy vividly describes the battle, the aftermath, and the harrowing experiences of over 2 years as POWs. Of note, it captures, the remarkable character of men from the Forest of Dean, highlighting their humour, fortitude, resilience and intense loyalty. 

 

At the Battle of Imjin River in April 1951, the Glosters fought a bloody, desperate, last-ditch action against overwhelming Chinese hordes. This battle is well covered by classics, such as 'The Edge of the Sword' by Anthony Farrar - Hockley and 'To the Last Round' by Andrew Salmond. What makes Nobber’s Boy unique, is that the reader is taken right down into the fight as experienced by a rifle section, where the grim reality is kill or be killed. 

 

The book commences with A Company's desperate action to hold Castle Hill and their withdrawal to .235, for the Glosters’ epic last stand. It vividly describes the horror and confusion of war, highlights the determination and courage of terrified young soldiers, and emphasises their unique bonds, forged in combat. Cut off, surrounded and outnumbered, the order was eventually given to break out, but pitifully few made it back to friendly lines.  

 

Davy and Roy were amongst those taken prisoner and force-marched north, for weeks, eventually arriving at primitive, disease-ridden camps, manned by fanatical, sadistic guards. On a starvation diet, with no medical support, subject to torture, brain washing and beatings, dozens were to die. Davy, Roy and their friends, coped with bloody-minded determination and dark humour, sticking by each other and refusing to be broken or subverted.  

  

This is a priceless and unique insight into a battalion of remarkable men, who fought and survived, against all odds. Over 70 years later, the Glosters are still held in awe in South Korea, where their sacrifices, to ensure the freedom of millions, will never be forgotten. This book is a moving, emotional, thought-provoking tribute – a true act of love by the author. 

 

Brigadier (Retired) Martin Vine OBE

The Last Commanding Officer, 1 Glosters 1992-1994

 

27 July 2022

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Review from Sue Runciman, Farnborough

In the last couple of days, ‘Nobber’s Boy’ has had me in its steely grip and I have been doing everything else needful with some reluctance. It’s very pacy, which would make it an unusual choice of book for me to read - so I’m grateful to find myself reading this style, as I’m enjoying it very much. Anything else would be daft with such a pacy subject - so far, the battles in particular, the sudden change to Davy’s whole life, and his quick bonding with his fellows. But I’m loving the fact that there is also a good deal of description that brings the pre- and post-battle landscape vividly to life. The hills overlooking the gentle paddy fields with the sun shining mistily over them came very freshly into mind while I was reading last night. Davy himself is very well-drawn and I really like in particular the way you have portrayed him as a reflective, thoughtful young man whose mind returns regularly to his memories of home for comfort, while also showing him fitting in well with his earthier peers. 

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Almost all day, I’ve been reading your wonderful book. I’ve just had to stop on page 333, because it has moved me to tears. Just the first few lines, ending with the words ‘Castle Hill’. You’ve written so vividly and with such immediacy that I have felt I was there with Davy and Roy. 
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Well, I’ve read the rest of your book today, and I think it’s wonderful. It is so vivid and alive, and it paints such a picture of heroism and decency in the wonderful Davy and Roy. 

 

Spoiler Alerts!

Points that really stand out for me from the point at which I left off previously (after the amazing battle scenes) are as follows:

The care by his fellows of Davy, in the POW camp; the awfulness of Sweetpea and Trout (I know someone with exactly that mouth, poor soul); the terrible worms!!! - I’ll say no more; the tension in the fog as they stole logs for their fires; the way Davy helped the Yanks, and Roy’s humility in thanking Davy for making him a better person, who now benefits, himself, from being kind to others; poor Haines, and the terrible torture he went through; the football match, and the camaraderie of the whole camp. 

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The release from the camp seemed purposely anticlimactic, which seemed to me to be exactly right: the real climax and high point was when Davy returned home to his family. I loved the description of the piece of art George gave to Davy as they all left, too.

 

I learned so much from reading this book. It always amazes me that man can be so inhumane to man. There were points at which I could hardly believe it possible that Davy had survived. Those weeks of crawling about, unable to walk - and even then, making good use of all the twigs etc that his fellows brought back from their Timber Group work to keep everyone warm. And the way he privately dealt with the terrible worms! He certainly had a very tenacious grasp on life, coming back time and again, a hair’s-breadth away from death. 

 

I found it gripping, pacy, moving and important. What a record for your family.