As You Were!

Herbert Tatem's wartime autobiography is fresh off the press and coming to local bookstores soon. I'm lucky to have a copy from the Tatems and am looking forward to some down time to learn more about Mr. Tatem's homefront service with the BVRC and BVEs. Mr. Tatem's effort to recount his military service and associated experiences follows other grassroots works produced by Bermudian veterans over the years, among them 'That's my Bloody Plane' by the late Major Cecil Mongomery's Moore, DFC, and 'There I Was...' by Fl/Lt Allan John Wingood, DFC, and his wife Peggy Wingood,. There are also private family manuscripts such as that of late Sgt. Mjr. Albert A. Powell in addition to the book on the WW1 and pre-WW2 career of Col. Thomas M. Dill, Jennifer Hind's 'Defence not Defiance', Andrew Bermingham's 'Bermuda Military Rarities', various memoirs held by the Bermuda Library, Bermuda Maritime Museum and Bermuda Archives and newspaper articles on local veterans by Bermudian veteran Thomas Aitchison as well as other local writers.

'As You Were!' and other first-hand wartime testimonies by surviving Bermudian veterans and personnel are invaluable additions to the island's growing military archives and collections for the First World War, Second World War and subsequent conflicts in which Bermudians have taken part and been affected. The Tatems are selling copies of As You Were! out of their Paget home, if interested call them on 236-3834.