Tragedy book reunites servicemen

2:10pm Sunday 7th September 2008

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A FORMER serviceman turned author has been reunited with his comrades from the 1950s after writing about a postwar tragedy in his debut novel.

Keith Watson, 72, of The Hawthorns, Monks Risborough, tells a partly fictionalised account of his National Service experiences in his debut novel, Rough Justice, first published last year.

He saw firsthand a barn blaze in Austria, in 1954, when four soldiers died and many more were injured.

Since the book came out Mr Watson has been reacquainted with former army colleagues as he has toured bookshops and word of the novel has spread. Among the colleagues he met was Fred Stanton, who lost an arm in the blaze.

Mr Watson said: “It’s been an amazing journey since I published the book, and it hasn’t ended yet. It’s been wonderful to see these people again, and finally talk about what happened.

“The experience of meeting them again, some for the first time, has been more exciting than having the book first published and in my hand.”

Mr Watson was one of about 100 British soldiers who were at the scene when fire broke out.

Although some of them knew how the blaze had started, they were sworn to secrecy. A tribunal was held, but the findings were not made public.

Mr Watson used this as a framework for the book, which tells how a small explosive device was used to wake sleeping soldiers, but accidentally caused the inferno. It also follows two veterans’ fictional quest for revenge against an officer after the results are suppressed.

Mr Watson, a former sales manager, started the book after joining a creative writing group and being encouraged by his course leader. After reading a short story of his postwar experiences, and seeing how moved he had been by the experience of putting it on paper, she suggested he write a fuller account.

He tracked down more details of the incident and tribunal from the Public Records Office, and found even more inspiration. He said: “That was when I realised the extent of the cover up. All the witness statements seemed to conflict with one another.”

Mr Watson added that the book, published by AuthorHouse, has been sold in shops across the area, and over the internet.

He said: “The joy of seeing the book sold is fantastic – it had to be written. It was a cathartic experience. There’s no doubt about it. It was very rewarding.”