Sea Your History - Effect on loved ones at home 2 - Effect on son of daddy being away

Effect on loved ones at home 2 - Effect on son of daddy being away

Nicole St. Hillaire

Nicole and her husband, Gilbert, are both from St. Vincent in the Caribbean. Following Gilbert's decision to join the Royal Navy she came to the UK in December 2003 for a holiday. During this time they decided to get married and she has remained in the UK since. They have a son, Jordon who was born in the UK. They currently live in married quarters and like to socialise with other naval families including some from St. Vincent.

Nicole recalls how their 2 year old son was effected when his father was in Afghanistan.

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Extract Text (Duration 1.10)

N St. Hillaire: When he was born and his dad he was always there, but when Jordan realised that his daddy's not home in the day he kept on asking me where's his daddy, and I keep telling him his daddy's at work, he says, "All right." But then when his daddy when to Afghanistan and the nights that his daddy's not there he started crying and he's asking me, "Where's my daddy? Is my daddy gone? Has he left me?" I said, "No. No, your daddy's coming back," you know. He kept asking, "Can I see my daddy?" and he... first time he saw his daddy on the webcam he's like, "It's my daddy! I love my daddy," you know. So every day he kept telling me, he kept pointing at the computer and telling me, "I want to see Daddy," you know, so for him it was really hard, ‘cause he just kept... you know, he kept crying sometimes for no reason and since seeing daddy.

Interviewer: And how old was he at this time?

N St. Hillaire: Two.

Interviewer: Two?

N St. Hillaire: Yeah, he was two.

Interviewer: That's hard.

N St. Hillaire: Yeah, it was, it was hard for him, so I tried to comfort him as much as possible.