Resources Search Results - full record

Title JOSEPH KEEN ?AN INTERVIEW WITH HIS NEPHEW, MICHAEL WATERHOUSE

Description
What I can tell you about Joseph Keen is he was born in 1920 and he was one of the first intake of pupils to Hemel School. Joe was born in Kings Langley at a butcher?s shop, no. 2 the High Street, which is still a butcher?s shop. When he left school he went to work for his father in the shop until the outbreak of war. He would have been 19 years old then and immediately conscripted into the army. In one of the letters he sent home he said, ?I?m fed up with the sand and the flies. I?d much rather be at home chopping up meat.? Unfortunately he didn?t come back from North Africa. I can remember this tall guy in my grandma?s house. She lived in an old house at the bottom end of Vicarage Lane in Kings Langley with low doors. I can picture him standing in the living room in front of the door and the (top of the) door was level with his eye line. He must have been 6ft 2 inches or more. He had two sisters who were seven and five years older than him.

He was a driver in the Royal Army Service Corps. He brought supplies from the port or whereever they were landed, out to the troops on the front line. I can remember my Dad reading one of Joe?s letters saying they had sandbags on the floor of the cab underneath them in case they hit a mine and it exploded. It would take some of the blow. But in fact that?s exactly what happened to him. He drove over a mine and was fatally wounded and died about a week later.

I have a few letters from him and to him. They don?t say much; just I?m missing everybody and that sort of thing. They were stamped by the censor so you couldn?t just say anything you liked. You got the famous blue pencil put through. They put the equivalent of a felt tip pen through anything they didn?t like. The letters took anything from 6 to 8 weeks to arrive as they were sent by sea so you could get a letter from Joe saying I?m Fine, everything?s okay and you know he was okay about 6 weeks ago but what?s happened in between times you don?t know. One letter thanks his Mum for sending a parcel with a cake in it. Sadly, after 2 months on board a ship it was mouldy but thanks all the same. One or two letters he received from my Mum were sent back with personal belongings. He would have had them in his kit when he was killed. He also had 3 penknives for some reason and a little lucky charm, a silver boot that came back with his belongings. Unfortunately not all that lucky. There was also one letter that I wrote him ? the first letter I ever wrote and the last he received.

My grandparents received two telegrams, one to say he was wounded and another about ten days later to say he had died of his wounds. I was about 5 years old. I can remember the whole family going down to grandma and granddad?s house and even though I didn?t realise what death was or anything like that I could still sense the grief and sadness. I couldn?t understand really what was going on. It?s the only time that I saw my Mum cry.

I went over there (to Tunisia) about 8 years ago. I just wanted to see what was left of him. I wish I?d gone earlier when my Mum was alive, though I showed her the pictures and so on. I made a sketch of his headstone.

The effect on the family was pretty devastating. My grandfather died about five years later in his mid-fifties. It was said he never really got over the loss of his son. He was the only son. Fathers built up businesses in those days for the benefit of their family and hoped to pass it on to a son. He just gave up after that.

You learn about wars and battles and dates and who did this and who won that but nobody talks much about the devastation it brings to families. That?s what memorials are for. They?re not for the guys who have been killed but try and make people remember and think about what these guys went through and what their families went through.

Interview by Pippa Carr

Keywords Kings Langley; Royal Army Service Corps; Tunisia

Collection Those Who Died

Place Kings Langley; Tunisia

Year 1939-1943

Conflict World War Two

File type html

Record ID number 199

Return to the search results?

Can you add any more information to this resource?

If so please complete this form and we will be in touch

Change text size -

Title	JOSEPH KEEN ?AN INTERVIEW WITH HIS NEPHEW, MICHAEL WATERHOUSE
Description	What I can tell you about Joseph Keen is he was born in 1920 and he was one of the first intake of pupils to Hemel School. Joe was born in Kings Langley at a butcher?s shop, no. 2 the High Street, which is still a butcher?s shop. When he left school he went to work for his father in the shop until the outbreak of war. He would have been 19 years old then and immediately conscripted into the army. In one of the letters he sent home he said, ?I?m fed up with the sand and the flies. I?d much rather be at home chopping up meat.? Unfortunately he didn?t come back from North Africa. I can remember this tall guy in my grandma?s house. She lived in an old house at the bottom end of Vicarage Lane in Kings Langley with low doors. I can picture him standing in the living room in front of the door and the (top of the) door was level with his eye line. He must have been 6ft 2 inches or more. He had two sisters who were seven and five years older than him. He was a driver in the Royal Army Service Corps. He brought supplies from the port or whereever they were landed, out to the troops on the front line. I can remember my Dad reading one of Joe?s letters saying they had sandbags on the floor of the cab underneath them in case they hit a mine and it exploded. It would take some of the blow. But in fact that?s exactly what happened to him. He drove over a mine and was fatally wounded and died about a week later. I have a few letters from him and to him. They don?t say much; just I?m missing everybody and that sort of thing. They were stamped by the censor so you couldn?t just say anything you liked. You got the famous blue pencil put through. They put the equivalent of a felt tip pen through anything they didn?t like. The letters took anything from 6 to 8 weeks to arrive as they were sent by sea so you could get a letter from Joe saying I?m Fine, everything?s okay and you know he was okay about 6 weeks ago but what?s happened in between times you don?t know. One letter thanks his Mum for sending a parcel with a cake in it. Sadly, after 2 months on board a ship it was mouldy but thanks all the same. One or two letters he received from my Mum were sent back with personal belongings. He would have had them in his kit when he was killed. He also had 3 penknives for some reason and a little lucky charm, a silver boot that came back with his belongings. Unfortunately not all that lucky. There was also one letter that I wrote him ? the first letter I ever wrote and the last he received. My grandparents received two telegrams, one to say he was wounded and another about ten days later to say he had died of his wounds. I was about 5 years old. I can remember the whole family going down to grandma and granddad?s house and even though I didn?t realise what death was or anything like that I could still sense the grief and sadness. I couldn?t understand really what was going on. It?s the only time that I saw my Mum cry. I went over there (to Tunisia) about 8 years ago. I just wanted to see what was left of him. I wish I?d gone earlier when my Mum was alive, though I showed her the pictures and so on. I made a sketch of his headstone. The effect on the family was pretty devastating. My grandfather died about five years later in his mid-fifties. It was said he never really got over the loss of his son. He was the only son. Fathers built up businesses in those days for the benefit of their family and hoped to pass it on to a son. He just gave up after that. You learn about wars and battles and dates and who did this and who won that but nobody talks much about the devastation it brings to families. That?s what memorials are for. They?re not for the guys who have been killed but try and make people remember and think about what these guys went through and what their families went through. Interview by Pippa Carr
Keywords	Kings Langley; Royal Army Service Corps; Tunisia
Collection	Those Who Died
Place	Kings Langley; Tunisia
Year	1939-1943
Conflict	World War Two
File type	html
Record ID number	199