Mr Race started life as a game
keeper for the Marquis of Bristol Lord Manners Hervey at Ickworth House
Nr Bury St Edmunds Suffolk untill the war broke out and he was then conscripted
into the Lincolnshire Regiment of the Army.
Because of his gun and hunting
skills he earned the nickname of poacher and was trained as a commando
sniper and saw much action in Burma.
While serving in burma his unit
was caught in cross fire from japanese snipers amd Mr Race being a crack
shot was elected to move forward under covering fire to take out the snipers.
during this he was shot in the
lower leg by machine gun fire which ripped through his leg and shattered
the bone.
He told me that at first all
he knew about it was the sound it made "like a Cricket Ball hitting the
Bat" then while still fireing his lower leg went num.
He then tried to move while
crawling on his belly through a reed bed of a salt marsh but his leg would
not move he looked down to see his foot hanging by strings of flesh he
then instinctivley crawled into cover and tied his right foot behind the
calf off his leg and applied a shell dressing with a torniquet.
He managed to keep him
self concious and crawled to nearby help.
he was taken to a field hospital
and treated the doctors managed to save his foot and grafted it on to what
was left of his lower leg.
After 18 months of operations
and treatment there was a 4 inch shortening of the leg.
Mr Race could hardly walk when
he returned home and was unable to walk for a long while this resulted
in him losing his much loved job as a gamekeeper.
so with government help hi relocated
to Croydon surrey and ran a grocery shop in wentworth road, he managed
to make a small living buteventually had to employ teams of workmen to
repair war damaged property to make ends meet.
After the war Mr Race went to
work for the Department store Kennards where he did well untill the chain
was taken over during this time his wife had become alchoholic and they
eventually parted company some time in the 1970s he left Kennards
to become a grounds man with the local council untill he retired in 1979
(some of the photos on this page are of his retirement presentation)
He Died On 20th february
1990 and now lays in the churchyard of St Andrews Church, Abotts Ripton,
Huntingdonshire with his Mother,Father and Brother.
He was a wonderfull man and
it was a pleasure to know him.
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