Kenilworth: “A Private War”

A Private War: The Diaries of Frederick George Draper 1939-1945

Speaker: Carol Draper

Carol’s father kept a journal throughout his WW2 service, a first-hand account of a young man’s experiences of war. He was conscripted as a Private in the Royal Leicestershire Regiment and travelled through Egypt, Trans Jordan, Libya, Ceylon, India and finally as a Chindit in Burma, never returning home in five years. His diaries remained hidden for 80 years, but Carol has discovered them and published in 2023 a book based on them. Illustrated with his photographs, the talk has more local interest for us, as he was demobbed to the Budbrooke Barracks in Warwick, and eventually became parts manager for the Donald Healey Motor Company in Warwick.
Carol will bring some copies of the book in case anyone would like to buy one.