A World War II veteran aged 99 has formed an incredible bond with a 28-year-old man whose great grandfather died at the very same battle his new ‘best friend’ survived
A war veteran has told how his “incredible friendship” with a 28-year-old, whose great grandfather died in the same battle as he survived, has stopped his nightmares.
Don Turrell, aged 99, from Essex, was badly injured and repatriated back to the UK during World War II. For decades he didn’t open up about his ordeal until he met Callum who encouraged him to talk about it. He’d met Callum Reid, 28, in Normandy during a visit to the 75th anniversary of D-Day. Callum was in the region to visit his great grandad’s grave for the first time who was killed during World War II.
The two hit it off immediately and they went on to become the very “best friends”. The veteran told how the friendship has helped him heal from the “hell on earth” he lived through during World War II. He said Callum encouraged him to talk about things he had buried for decades.
“We never spoke about the war, we’d come home on leave and never spoke about it with our families. But he encouraged me to talk about things and I haven’t had a nightmare since,” he said.
Don’s older brother Leslie Turrell, 21, was killed on HMS Penelope in Anzio off the coast of Italy aged. His ship had been nicknamed the ‘pepper pot’ because it was hit so many times.
The pair have now been pals for six years despite living on opposite sides of the UK but Callum cares for him during trips with the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans. Don added: “He’s my best friend. I’m lost without him, put it that way. I miss him because I live on my own.”
Callum, who now lives in Scotland, said of their special relationship: “It’s helped, just having a chat. When he told me about the mortar bombing and how scared he was, it makes me understand what my great grandad would have experienced. It has given me a greater appreciation of what they went through and it makes me sad that he has experienced it.”
Both Don and Callum’s great grandfather Sg James Dargie, 33, were involved in the battle of Hill 112 in Normandy, a strategic position because of the vital view it provided. Don was wounded first on July 10, 1944, but survived during the battle for Eterville.
At one stage he was under siege and took shelter and braced himself in a tree trunk, with his comrades trying to make themselves as small as possible. As the bombardment eased, he called out for people around him and only heard back from one man, who then went to get up and collapsed and died. Everyone around him was dead.
“I was in bed in hospital for three years after being wounded,” he said as his foot was nearly blown off and his left side and back were seriously injured. Chartered accountant Callum originally from Leeds explained his great grandad, Sgt James Dargie, died aged 33, six days later, trying to capture the same hill. He was in the 86th anti-tank regiment when he was killed on July 16th 1944 by a direct mortar hit.
“My grandma was nine years old when he died. I think that’s why I am so passionate about what happened and the importance to learn,” he said. “I asked Don what it was like up there and he said it was like ‘hell on earth’ and another veteran told me it was ‘the worst night of his life’.”
Five years ago Callum said how he took Don and “introduced him to my great grandad” at his grave at St Manvieu cemetery where Don also has three friends buried. Callum said: “I don’t get emotional much but I was then because it was a moment I never thought I’d get to see.
“I’m so unbelievably lucky to have met Don, I do believe it was fate. I first met him in a bar in France and I was starstruck. He’s now one of my best friends.”
