ALBERT Ineson is looking forward to celebrating his 90th birthday.
But he knows how lucky he is to be alive and that he can look forward to this special milestone in his life.
After joining the army during the Second World War he found himself in battle serving as a gunner in the desert in North Africa with Montgomery's Eighth Army.
Albert picks up the story: "A small group of us became lost in the desert and after a couple of days we were captured and taken prisoner by a German army patrol who told us we would be taken to a Polish labour camp.
"On the way we were shelled by allied guns and I managed to dive out of the back of the truck moments before it blew up. A small piece of shrapnel hit me in the back of the neck and I lost consciousness. I am sure I was the only survivor from that van.
"I woke up in hospital in Alexandria in Egypt and was told I had been in a coma for five days and it had been touch and go. I was surprised to find the nurse who had sat by my side all that time came from Leeds, what a small world.
"It had been a long journey across the desert to hospital and I have no memory of those five days, perhaps it is just as well."
Albert had to go through a delicate operation to remove the shrapnel which could have left him paralysed as it was near to his spine. After recuperation he was transferred to Italy where, after medical checks, he was surprisingly passed A1 and was soon back on duty as experienced men were still badly needed.
While in Italy Albert had his second frightening encounter with shrapnel when a hot piece of metal flew through the brim of his helmet, through his eyebrow and into the back of his hand. At last, as war was nearing the end, he found himself homeward bound and after disembarking in Scotland he made the last bit of the long journey home back to Barnsley by train.
"Many things had changed, but a normal and better life began. In August I will have survived to my 90th birthday, despite being very lucky to have survived the war,"
Albert was one of the youngest of six and after he left school at 14. he followed his brothers into the pit, but with the prospect of war looming, he joined the Army and went on to do his basic training at Woolwich Arsenal. "Little did we know we were training for six years of war."
By the time war broke he was serving as a driver for Captain Richard Mount Stephen Hartley and had been to Europe, driving him through France, Holland and Belgium, later going to India, Iraq and Iran.
Albert's father James had served in the Army during the First World War and he had made the decision to follow in his footsteps.
Albert, who lives at Mapplewell, has a son Stewart, a daughter, Carol and four grandchildren.
