Personal diaries of world changing events are extraordinarily special. They offer a deep richness in terms of experience that cannot be captured by historical works. They follow events as they were experienced at the time and therefore convey the fear, the excitement, the wonder and the uncertainty that the author was facing. Charles Pearson’s very complete war diary is just this; a wonderfully written account which captures local colour, daily detail, the paradoxes of war and of life in the military, the monotony of travel together with its opportunities and periodic exposure to danger and death. The author captures the lived experience of the Second World War as he witnessed it; first as an almost passive observer, although not without danger, then as an active participant in both air defence and then field artillery, and finally as a peace-keeper seeking to return a broken nation to its feet. (Extract from Foreword by Colonel Jon Cresswell) Amongst the many fast moving stories in this volume: Charles’ escape from France in 1940 after being cut off by German Panzers from the main Dunkirk evacuation, and the trials and tribulations of his officer training in the Middle East desert.