90-year-old Shropshire war veteran receives his page in history

In an era of celebrity autobiographies, competition to find the life story of an ordinary Briton truly worthy of preservation reaches its climax.

How many of us would like our lives enshrined in print for future generations and our families? That’s the prize a 90-year-old war veteran from Shropshire received today after winning a national competition run by specialist insurer Ecclesiastical to find a life story worthy of preserving in a book.

Reg Bowyer from Oswestry, Shropshire, who turned 90 this month, was presented with the first hardback editions of his autobiography, A Long Shadow, published as a prize for winning the Book of My Life competition, which ran earlier this year.

Family, friends and former colleagues of Mr Bowyer gathered in Oswestry Library to see him presented with copies of his autobiography, written with author Susan Webb.

A delighted Mr Bowyer said: “My children and grandchildren have always told me I should write a book about my life. I’m no writer though, so I’ve never got round to putting pen to paper. When my son-in-law told me about the competition I never thought I could win, but we thought we’d give it a go anyway. I feel so privileged to have won as I’m sure there are many other great stories out there.”

Mr Bowyer’s son-in-law John Howard, who entered Reg for the competition, said: “When we entered I never dreamt Reg would be selected, so it’s wonderful to finally see this book become a reality. I’m delighted for Reg, for his family, and for his grandchildren and great grandchildren who’ve been given this wonderful memory of their grandfather.”

Mr Bowyer’s autobiography was written after he was selected as the winner of a national competition run by Ecclesiastical, an insurance company specialising in heritage buildings, to find an individual whose life story was worthy of preservation. Entries were invited from all over the UK with Mr Bowyer being selected by the judges.

The autobiography is called A Long Shadow and subtitled One Shropshire man’s story of war and beyond. The book tells Mr Bowyer’s story of his upbringing on a farm ‘in the shadow of the Welsh hills’ during the inter-war years of the 1920s and 30s. Then, on the eve of the Second World War, Mr Bowyer volunteered for the army and his life changed beyond recognition, as it did for all his countrymen and women. The peace and tranquillity of his rural way of life were shattered by active service in North Africa and Italy, when he was involved in the epic and bloody siege of the Italian hill town of Monte Cassino, one of the greatest battles of the Second World War. After the war, Mr Bowyer returned to his native Shropshire to rebuild his life, marry, raise a family and become mayor of Oswestry.

Chair of the competition judges, Ecclesiastical’s fine art underwriting manager Clare Pardy said:

“We chose Reg as our winner because his story was exactly what we were looking for: a life story that captured a period in our history which can be told from a very personal perspective. For many younger people living in the UK today it’s virtually impossible to grasp the scale of the sacrifice Mr Bowyer and his generation made.

“To go from a very peaceful, rural life in 1930s Shropshire to seeing Europe tear itself apart and watch close friends die on the battlefields of Italy, is almost unimaginable by today’s standards. That’s why we wanted to preserve Reg’s story in this book: to show future generations how people of Reg’s age gave up a way of life to fight for a cause and the freedom we take for granted today.

“In an age when we see so many insubstantial celebrity biographies being published, it’s refreshing to read about an ordinary man who lived through extraordinary times was called upon to show real valour.”

Copies of the book will be donated to Oswestry Library and the town’s local history society. Several copies will also be presented to Mr Bowyer and his family.

The book was written after author Susan Webb conducted a series of interviews with Reg earlier this year.

The presentation took place in Oswestry Library at 1pm on Wednesday 25 August.