from India with love

I have this photo next to my desk.  He died on this day in 1969.  It's odd to think that I've known him longer as a photograph than I did in life.

There's no date on the this image, but he was in India and Burma from around 1941 to 1945.  A keen sportsman and draughtsman before the war, he came back to a bombed out factory and like many others, a lifetime of illness.  Potential never fulfilled. 

He often spoke about the futility of war.  As did Pink Floyd:

"Us and them ......... and after all, we're only ordinary men..." 

But they weren't were they.