Early Life
Colin Bates was born on January 23rd 1925, in Paisley, Scotland. The second youngest of four sons. My grandfathers father who was affected by gas poisoning in WW1 and died when my grandfather was just 3 years old.
My grandfather grew up in Manchester where during the Blitz of WW2 at the tender age of 15 my grandfather would run to collect the shrapnel from the bombs and keep a collection in his shed.
My grandfather life in the war begun in 1943 when he was conscripted. Below is a war map of my grandfathers time in the war which we have researched up to now
