My Grandfather is celebrating His centenary Today

Celebrating the centenary of a living ennobled Icon.

June15, 1920.

It was a time ago,long enough to make the earth lost count of how many times,it has watched the sun travel about it in a slow and steady spate.He had watched the night shed its tears in every season.He had watched the sun breaks out from it shell,rising behind the trees each day,chasing and overtaking the remnants of the night. He had watched the gleaming orb rail in the cloud at seeming slow pace each night.He has experienced seasons;From when the tree clothe itself in green attires in the springtime and to when it stripped its leaves in autumn.His grizzled appearance is not without life experiences. The years he has spent to the Glory of God,is marked with interesting and daring adventures.He might looks frail, as such that comes with old age,but his confident demeanor has never eluded him.Always precise,articulate, eloquent,strong,energetic - I trust he could still climb a ladder - and Poised and fearless.An old living lion.My Grand father.

From the brief but exciting moments that I had spent with him;Listening with rapt attention,questioning,making  Mental note of all his tales and experiences.The scenery was just like being in an on-air TV talk show.we spent hours solely immensed in deep discussion and I was awe-struck of how he took me on a ride of listening to undocumented documentaries of his life sojourn,with precision and exactitude. He could remember stories that happened decades ago without even taking a pause to think and recall.

One of the stories that struck me more was his tale of his experience in WOrld war 2.I found it very exciting and insightful, listening to someone with experiential knowledge of WW2.

Long before I traveled to my state,I had read alot of works,journals and even books on world War 2 and  had watched documentaries and video clips of events that happened in that period of time.But I wanted to hear from my Grandfather so as to know about his own experience.So it was a visit that I had longed for a very long time.In the year 2015,few days to my travel to my state,the renew surge of  anticipation was just rising up  like the current of  Atlantic . I waited the scheduled date  as desert dwellers would await rainfall.

On that fateful day as I had planned, I made sure that He was alone so that only me and him would be alone in the living room. I met him reclining comfortable on a couch.His face beam as he noticed my arrival into the living room.I sat close to him, and as usual we engaged in light talks,making remarks and expressing our views on the upcoming general elections.The initial subject of topics wasn't what I wanted to hear but I  never wanted to delve into asking the questions in my heart without introductory gestures.So I made overtures,gradually and gradually I was beginning to hit the nail on the head.Then finally, I arrived at the junction that offered me the opportunity to throw the first question in my heart.

My first question elicited a moment of relish. I watched  his face rippling like river of waters in which a stone was dropped. He adjusted himself on the couch,wiped his lips with the handkerchief that he was fiddling with, and began a full narration of his experience in battle field.

Born into the family of Mr Peter and Mrs Beccy okerengwo in June 15,1920.He was the first to emerged from his mother closed encampment and presently the last surviving Child.He joined the military at about 19 years of age,during the heat of world War2.He was among the very few in his town to obtain primary School leaving Certificate and thus he stood a better chance of being admitted into the military.

Joining the military, as I could draw out from him,was never what he envisaged.After his primary school,he left his rural community to live with his uncle in town.It was during his stay in town,that he stumbled on a newspaper adverts released by the British Colonial  government,announcing the commencement of recruiting African soldiers to fight in the British forces during the raging war.

He availed himself for enlistment.After scaling through the rigorous training as a combatant, he was enlisted. His possession of Primary school certificate gave him and some other the opportunity of being trained on  poviding First Aid service to other injured soldiers in their rank.

Shortly after His training,His father died and he was summoned to the village to take care of the burial rites,being the first born of his family.After the burial,His mother tried all she could to prevailed on him to rescind his decision of fighting in army;persuasively imploring him to stay behind and assume the role that comes with being a first son after the demise of a father. All pleas and entreaties fell on deaf ears,as he was persistent on going to the battle field.He wasn't someone that would abscond after he had expended much energy and put in trenchant efforts in training.Also,As newly trained personnels,they had been briefed on the consequences of dereliction. Unable to persuade him, She prayed for him and gave him her blessings. He returned to the  camp that they were being housed in preparation for their sail across the sea.

On that very day,they set out with everyone  on board having his hopes sailing with the ship.They were uncertain of what it might be on shore,will they dropped dead like logs of wood,or will they returned to the  warm embrace of loved ones.As humans they were, Fear was beginning to get them mired but as soldiers they're trained to be, they  towed their hope with a positive spirit. Their ships were docked at designated harbors in some African countries  just to pick other African contingents that were also soldiers.If I could remember well, He mentioned about five African countries of British colony which made up the African contingents.They made a large troop.They boarded on same ship and shared good moments together while enroute to India.He recalled how the sea was once friendly and gentle until it began to squirmed as if they had rode on where it was hurt.The sea current  became tumultuous, aggressive and fierce.It was as if it was going to rent their ship into shreds.It became notoriously cold for days.They were struck by the fervency of it and many of them succumbed to seasickness,that reaped many of them off before they got to their destination.Shot to death by  cold, those fallen  were buried in the sea.And the journey continued.

During the war,He recalled that there were nights when they saw lightings, and it was  guns;and they heard thunders,and that was big guns;and then when they heard the rain falling, and it was the drops of blood falling;and when they came to get the crops,and it was dead men that they reaped.The war consumed alot of them that sailed through sea,leaving only those standing to mourn brothers that had fallen.

As he made closing remarks of his narration,I saw  his face tweaked a little bit as he covered the past that he had dug up.He has had both pleasant and unpleasant experiences but his pleasant memories  outweighed whatever ill-experience (s) that he had had in his 100 year Sojourn on earth.You don't need to be told,He has lived a life  full of relish.

We deflected from talking about WW2 to other interesting tales.I would point to pictures of him,hanging elegantly on the wall,and he would recounts whatever scenarios that each pictures spoke of.I needed to no one to tell me that he was a fearless and relentless fellow,Full of wisdom and life.A father to many in his Clan.A trustworthy and respectable personality.

Not just being the oldest man in his clan that made him a reputatble and revered figure,but for what he stood for - Justice.He is well Principled,disciplined,Unbaised and welcoming.

Thank God for such an Age-long journey.

He has crowned you with long life and He will  continue to carry you on  throughout your sojourn on Earth.

Happy birthday to you Grand Pa

Happy100.

From Prosper