The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge

Welcome to the Painting Challenge. Here you will find the fabulous, fevered work of miniature painters from around the world. While participants come from every ethnicity, gender, age and nationality, they have three things in common: they love miniatures, they enjoy a supportive community, and they want to set themselves against the Challenge. This site features the current year's event along with the archives of past Painting Challenges. Enjoy your visit and remember to come back soon.

Saturday, 6 February 2021

From MartinC Chambers of Challenge, Hall of the Ancestors - Joseph Harold Cooke, RM (35pts)

My Grandad Harold was a Royal Marine Commando during WW2. He was in 7th Battalion which was assigned to port guard duties. In September 1942 his battalion sailed for South Africa to guard the ports but weren't needed so they sailed for Egypt. Whilst in Egypt his war diary, not very complete and mainly in morse said that while in Egypt he met with a large party of Yugoslavia refugees and was taken to their camp for dinner. He said they were very nice people. I know you are interested in the morse code and we have deciphered it. it mainly says things like "18th August 1942 STOP practicing my morse code STOP weather very nice STOP"

Whilst in Egypt he caught malaria and was shipped back to England where he spent the rest of the war. He was afflicted with malaria all his life and it would occasionally be stricken down with it when I was child. He died over 25 years ago and only ever talked abou thte war once. His battalion was reassigned as 48 commando and many of his friends we assigned to other commandos. These friends took part in the Raid in St Nazaire and he lost many friends there. 48 commando was part of the special service brigade and took part in D-Day. A letter from a friend 3 days later described the loss of more friends.

My family is lucky, we exist because my Grandad got malaria, the most deadly of all diseases, otherwise there was a significant probability that he wouldn't have made it and my father wouldn't have been born after the war.

Enough reflection on if and whats and maybes. We know for a fact that he was in South Africa because of this photo

My grandad, front row centre, having his photo taken with a Zulu warrior in December 1942. I don't think he'd travelled more than 30miles from home before joining the marines

So obviously I planned to reproduce this image

The figures are Empress drivers with head swaps etc. I didn't have any unpainted Zulus but in a previous challenge the marvellous Michael Awdry gave me a wonderfully painted Zulu in a side challenge.

I'm really delighted with this ensemble. Think my Grandad would have been, he was one of the people who took me model soldier shopping on Saturdays.

3x28mm and 20 pts and loads of nice memories