The Dad I Never Knew
Born during the First World War, George Musgrave, an only child, on the death of his father, grew up in poverty in two rooms at the top of a Victorian building in a busy London main road with no garden to play in and with very few facilities. He looks back on his father's struggle.
George Musgrave played a prominent part in the 4 star rated BBC documentary shown in November 2007 and repeated many times since. The film ends with a moving scene in which George Musgrave, then 92, kneels at his father’s grave in Rouen, France, reciting the poem which he had written at age 16.
What were your thoughts as you shouldered your gun
and marched through the fields of France Dad?
Was it a yearning for wife and son, Dad?
You never came back to see how I grew.
You never returned to your home, Dad.
But still, I've the engine that once you drew
While lying in pain in France, Dad