They are five people who moulded my imagination and moral outlook – new book documents wartime Lancastrians

Lancashire has always been a fertile recruiting ground for the Armed Forces, and the servicemen commemorated in the book were among the bravest and the best.

In five compelling portraits, the former Lancashire Post and Blackpool Gazette journalist profiles representatives from each of the four Armed Forces: his “Bomber Boy” uncle; a D-Day veteran; a sailor who witnessed the Japanese surrender in 1945; a Marine whose “vessel” never moved; and another airman, who became a politician.

In theatres of war stretching from Germany to Japan, and West Lancashire to West Africa, via the Atlantic and the North Sea, their stories show how the wartime generation’s experiences engendered values that sustained and nourished them in later life.

The book, Lancastrians on the Frontline, is a powerful and poignant tribute to the valour of some of Lancashire’s most courageous sons.

Barry, who lives in Preston, said: “This book tells the stories of five people who have moulded my imagination and moral outlook during my 50 years of journalism.”

The illustrated 93-page book is dedicated to his uncle, Gordon Williams, who was killed in a bombing raid over Germany in 1944, and his great-uncle, Joseph, who died in the trenches in 1917.

As well as Gordon, the other subjects are:

* The late Jack Fenton, a Blackpool man who drove a mine-clearing tank across the Normandy beaches on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

* Prestonian the late Lawrence Dunnagan, who served for nearly three years as a Royal Marine on the remote Fort Roughs in the North Sea, defending London again Nazi bombers heading for the Thames estuary.

* Former sailor Ken Benbow, aged 99, of Thistleton, who saw action on HMS Crane in the Mediterranean, North Atlantic, the Far East, and at Dunkirk and D-Day.

* The late Alf Goldberg, born in London but a long-time resident and councillor in Staining, Fylde, who was at the infamous Battle of Cable Street against Oswald Mosley’s fascists in 1936 and later helped form the West Africa Air Corps on Churchill’s orders.

Barry has previously written or edited 16 books on subjects ranging from railways to politics.

Lancastrians on the Frontline is published by the Progressive Press (£5.95, ISBN 978-1-3999-9767-6) and can be ordered through bookshops or from [email protected].