Nace Bilby
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"Sometimes I Lie Awake.
I Dream of Everyone.
Who Walked the Path I Take.
Who Ran Beneath the Sun." - Where the Truth Lies by the Exchange
(Note, the song comes fro the Prince Valiant animated series theme. A link is below)
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Having just returned from Afghanistan Nace sat at an outdoor cafe in London, not far from Regent Park. He telephoned Rey, his older sister, that he'd be coming by later to pick up Goliath, he just needed a bit of time to himself.
Sipping at a cup of chai he had ordered, he sat down, looking as the pale sun burned away London's ever present fog. He had remembered listening to the song Where the Truth Lies by the Exchange. It was a favorite of his from the tele he watched as a boy.
The lines about lying awake, dreaming of everyone before him made him remember generations before him. Four generations of Bilby had served both British Crown and the nations of Rhodesia, now defunct, and South Africa.
May I have done well by you lot. Nace thought as he reflected on the four generations before him.
His great great grandfather, Corporal George Samuel Bilby had come to the continent of Africa with the 24th Welsh Regiment of Foot and elected to be pensioned in Southern Africa following an injury sustained fighting the Zulus, purchasing a small plot for himself with money saved from his army days. He died peaceably in his bed surrounded by his two children and grandchildren.
His great grandfather had served in the First World War, leaving behind three children and his wife in 1916 after the birth of his youngest boy. He served with the 1st South African Brigade at the Battle of Delville Wood. Lance Corporal Martin F. Bilby would never see his family again, dying in No Man's Land, remains not to be found until nearly a century later where his great grandchildren, Rey and Nace, would arrange for him to be repatriated home to South Africa.
Requiem Im Pace, great grandfather. Nace thought.
His grandfather Major Allan Bilby had, after apprenticing as a gamekeeper, joined the British 8th Army in North Africa first joining the Long Range Desert Group and later the Special Air Service as a private where he fought in the Mediterranean and France. Finishing World War II at the rank of Captain he settled in Southern Rhodesia after the war he was recalled to active service in 1950 to serve in Malaya with C Squadron, 22 SAS. He would later command C Squadron as a Major before returning home to Rhodesia and retiring. After his aging mother's health started to fail Allan returned to South Africa to care for her in her last years.
Loyalty to one's kin, in all things, Grandpa. Nace thought.
Senior Chief Warrant Officer Second Class Jason Bilby, his father, enlisted in the South African Defense Force as a boy soldier at the age of seventeen and spent the next thirty years in the South African military. With a few exceptions most of his father's service was in the South African Recce Regiment, South Africa's answer to the Special Air Service of the United Kingdom.
Loyalty, all we truly have. Dad, you taught me that by how you live. Nace thought as he fired off a text to his family in South Africa, saying he had arrived in London just fine.
You walked the same path I do, that of a soldier, all of you provided an example for me to follow. May I do well by you with all I do. Nace thought.
I Dream of Everyone.
Who Walked the Path I Take.
Who Ran Beneath the Sun." - Where the Truth Lies by the Exchange
(Note, the song comes fro the Prince Valiant animated series theme. A link is below)
---
Having just returned from Afghanistan Nace sat at an outdoor cafe in London, not far from Regent Park. He telephoned Rey, his older sister, that he'd be coming by later to pick up Goliath, he just needed a bit of time to himself.
Sipping at a cup of chai he had ordered, he sat down, looking as the pale sun burned away London's ever present fog. He had remembered listening to the song Where the Truth Lies by the Exchange. It was a favorite of his from the tele he watched as a boy.
The lines about lying awake, dreaming of everyone before him made him remember generations before him. Four generations of Bilby had served both British Crown and the nations of Rhodesia, now defunct, and South Africa.
May I have done well by you lot. Nace thought as he reflected on the four generations before him.
His great great grandfather, Corporal George Samuel Bilby had come to the continent of Africa with the 24th Welsh Regiment of Foot and elected to be pensioned in Southern Africa following an injury sustained fighting the Zulus, purchasing a small plot for himself with money saved from his army days. He died peaceably in his bed surrounded by his two children and grandchildren.
His great grandfather had served in the First World War, leaving behind three children and his wife in 1916 after the birth of his youngest boy. He served with the 1st South African Brigade at the Battle of Delville Wood. Lance Corporal Martin F. Bilby would never see his family again, dying in No Man's Land, remains not to be found until nearly a century later where his great grandchildren, Rey and Nace, would arrange for him to be repatriated home to South Africa.
Requiem Im Pace, great grandfather. Nace thought.
His grandfather Major Allan Bilby had, after apprenticing as a gamekeeper, joined the British 8th Army in North Africa first joining the Long Range Desert Group and later the Special Air Service as a private where he fought in the Mediterranean and France. Finishing World War II at the rank of Captain he settled in Southern Rhodesia after the war he was recalled to active service in 1950 to serve in Malaya with C Squadron, 22 SAS. He would later command C Squadron as a Major before returning home to Rhodesia and retiring. After his aging mother's health started to fail Allan returned to South Africa to care for her in her last years.
Loyalty to one's kin, in all things, Grandpa. Nace thought.
Senior Chief Warrant Officer Second Class Jason Bilby, his father, enlisted in the South African Defense Force as a boy soldier at the age of seventeen and spent the next thirty years in the South African military. With a few exceptions most of his father's service was in the South African Recce Regiment, South Africa's answer to the Special Air Service of the United Kingdom.
Loyalty, all we truly have. Dad, you taught me that by how you live. Nace thought as he fired off a text to his family in South Africa, saying he had arrived in London just fine.
You walked the same path I do, that of a soldier, all of you provided an example for me to follow. May I do well by you with all I do. Nace thought.
