Emeli Sandé’s Parents Share Her Grandparents’ War Stories
Singer-songwriter Emeli Sandé visits with her parents, who share her grandparents’ war stories. Emeli’s maternal grandfather, Bob, spent four years fighting in the Egyptian desert, and when WWII ended was sent to Kenya as the British fought to maintain colonial rule. At the same time, her paternal grandfather, Saka, was caught up in the independence movement that was sweeping across Africa.
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-Hello.
-Hi!
Hello.
To find out about both sets of my grandparents, my parents, Diane and Joel, have come to see me.
-Come in.
-Okay.
-This is Granddad's certificate of service from the Army.
-Wow.
I've never seen this.
"Christian name: Ronald."
-He didn't really like- -No.
-being called... -No, he didn't like Ronald.
[both laughing] -So he called himself Bob.
-Oh, okay.
-Yes, yeah.
[both laughing] -"He is loyal to his superiors, "and considerate of his subordinates, "and will be an asset to any employee.
-Remarkable.
-What a review, yeah.
And his Army trade: "storman."
-Granddad, he was in charge of the- the armory.
That was where all the weapons and bullets were, and obviously important.
-It looks like he spent a fair bit of time in Egypt, from 1939 to 1943.
-They spent a long time in the desert.
-So four years over there.
-Granddad did say there was quite a lot of hairy moments.
-Wow.
-And he told us a story once, that they had to dive under an Army vehicle, because there was a- a Stuka attack, like a bomb attack.
-Wow.
[all laughing] Bob thankfully survived the desert war, and fell in love with my grandmother.
In 1945, they were among the millions who took to the streets to celebrate the end of World War II.
But my grandparents' war wasn't over.
Bob and Betty were sent to Kenya in the middle of an uprising against British colonial rule in the early 1950s.
My aunts, Jo, Carol, and Denise, and my uncle, Chris, grew up during the fighting.
-So blonde.
-Yeah, I know.
-Very cute.
-At that time, the Kenyan group, the Mau Mau, were trying to reclaim the country.
And so there was a lot of friction between the British and the Mau Mau.
-One got the idea that if they were captured... -So, Grandma was told that if there was an attack on the Army compound, they had to shoot the children, and then shoot themselves.
-Yeah.
-[pfff] -Hard to imagine, isn't it, really?
-Wow.
That must have been terrible.
While Bob and Betty were tasked with upholding the British Empire, my grandfather, Saka, was caught up in the violence to overthrow it, as the independence movement swept across Africa.
