At the 2016 Oliver Family History Day one of the recent discoveries that we talked about was the book 'Kriegie' by A E V (Albert Ernest Victor) Oliver, and whilst I didn't reveal the whole story, hopefully appetites were whetted with a brief introduction and background.
Albert was born 1910, his father was a Gamekeeper and having grown up on Lord Colmondley's Estate he was a lover of nature and the countryside. Albert's Grandfather Charles was born in Stonesfield, 1854.
As Albert grew up he took an interest in the city and joined Barclays Bank. Having gained promotion through the ranks, in the early 1930s he was posted to Trinidad, this was at a time when Barclay's we expanding into Britain's largest overseas bank with over 1350 offices in 41 countries.
In Albert's own words his life was going very well, a good job, marvellous weather, with servants for his every whim; a 'true paradise‘.
In September 1939 however with the outbreak off WW2 things would change dramatically and he resigned from the bank returning to England and volunteered for service in the RAF. Soon after he was commissioned as an Air Gunner Officer as part of the Bomber Command Strategy, and so would begin a most extraordinary period of his life.
Albert's book 'Kriegie' tells the fascinating story of his life over the following 4 years in his own words, and it starts with an operation to bomb the Fiat works in Turin, Italy. Within minutes the seemingly successful operation would soon turn very bad and we find Albert recalling ‘I hit the ground with such force that I was instantly knocked unconscious’.
His life, the events, that the book exists at all to tell his story is extraordinary alone, but the fact that this is one of our Oliver's makes it very special indeed and I would urge anyone to try and locate a copy of the book to read.
The following tree diagram illustrates where Albert's fits within the tree.
