DEBT OF GRATITUDE PROJECT
Donation protected
AMAZON LINK TO MY BOOKS
My Name is Gary Bridson-Daley
Please read my Veterans related story until the very end in order to fully understand my fundraiser.
By doing this you will see how your very kind donations and help in spreading the word about what I am striving to achieve here can and will make such a positive outcome for both me as author and recipient, by allowing me to continue my important work, and all the well-deserving veterans who will rightly be honoured and remembered for all they have done for us as a result of it.
As follows;
For 10 years now I have dedicated myself to honouring Military & Civilian veterans through my 'Debt of Gratitude Project' and have done so by travelling all over the country interviewing many of the last World War Two Veterans from that 'Greatest Generation' whilst there has still been time to do so, and have captured their stories for posterity and for future generations to help secure their legacy and memory and to thank them for their service to our country, and for the continued freedom that we still enjoy to this very day as a result of their actions in years gone by!
Although my work is dedicated to all who have ever served this country from past to present day, I have focused on interviewing those of the Second World War, at present, because we really don't have long left to get their precious stories; it is with this mind that I now completed over 150 interviews all over the United Kingdom and in Europe with veterans from Navy, Army, Air Force, Special Forces, Intelligence and Civilian backgrounds, ex-servicemen and women from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Just as importantly I have also sought out veterans who came to help us from much further afield and from many different backgrounds such as West Indian Jamaicans, Nepalese Gurkhas, Sikh and Muslim Indians, Jewish, Polish, Dutch, Canadians, American and others! Further important diversity and inclusion also coming from the interviews I have done with limbless and blind veterans, all of whom represent a cross-section of our society today and as a result I am proud to have met and captured their moving stories as well.
I have done everything on my own so far, from procurement to interviews, including all the photography and videography involved in each one, all the writing up of their stories and the extensive background research required for each, thousands of unpaid man hours which has led so far to the writing and successful publishing of my 1st Book called 'A Debt of Gratitude To The Last Heroes' published in 2017 with 2nd Edition published in 2020 and 3rd Edition with additional content published in 2024.
Every aspect of this project has been self-financed with no sponsorship whatsoever and has come entirely from my pocket, and in the process I have used all my savings to fund it, over 10,000 pounds, and now have nothing left to continue what I passionately believe in and want to continue succeed in doing!
My 2nd Book: 'The Last Stand - Memories of War' is a huge 200,000-word piece of work with 47 more WW2 Veterans in it! A very big achievement which has taken over 5 years to complete, but due to a number of factors, including publishers being massively inundated with a flood of different military-related manuscripts of every kind as a result of many more people writing during the Pandemic, has led to me self-publishing through Amazon KDP.
My 3rd Book: Poetry and Portraits came out on what would have been my Mum's Birthday on the 26th March 2025. It contains 25 pieces of Remembrance, Veterans, War and Peace Poetry over 41 pages, followed by the photographic tributes and stories of 60 World War Two Veterans, the vast majority of whom I personally interviewed, and also includes tributes to wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill, SAS Lt. Col 'Paddy' Mayne and the U-Boat Hunter Ace Captain 'Johnnie' Walker.
In order to keep my work and these stories alive I have had to adopt another approach and strategy of the GoFundMe Campaign to be able to continue to run every other aspect of my 'Debt of Gratitude Project, that includes being able to do the charitable part of it, which means buying my books, because believe it or not even as Authors we don't get them free, and to pay to send them to places that have accepted them on a donation basis, such as National and Regional Libraries, Military Museums, Universities and other places, in order to put them somewhere they will be of value to others, to help keep the stories in the public domain and continue to honour our veterans through this means of a long-term legacy for them!
All my work of the past few years will be for nothing if I don't see these critically important things through, and quite simply many of them will go to their graves never having had their stories told or their sacrifices known if I don't succeed now, which I feel is totally unacceptable and a real crying shame!
We owe it to them to honour their memory and share their experiences with the world; it is so, so important to do this, and my Debt of Gratitude Project has been and continues to be my personal way, within my now limited means to continue doing this, which is why I am reaching out to you all now to ask for your support to help me to succeed in these things, without you I cannot do it, this is for the veterans, as my mantra in my books says, my work and project is;
About Veterans, For Veterans, To Honour Veterans, Because to Remember is to Honour.
The money I am attempting to raise will help cover a great many things, such as:
1) Any costs in relation to self-publication, directly or indirectly.
2) Buying stock from the publisher to donate to specific military and civilian Charities, Associations and Organisations for posterity and educational use, and to strategically and mindfully put the books there as an ongoing legacy for our veterans to help ensure Remembrance and Respect continue in the long-term, also the post & packaging to send them safely.
3) Buying further stock so I can equip and have an official book signing events and all the other overheads that will go with facilitating them in order to reach more people.
4) Help to cover the costs of keeping the Debt of Gratitude Project running, which includes but not limited to, travel, accommodation and all other miscellaneous related costs when running interviews in other parts of the country in order to reach and be with veterans, who due to very old age cannot and should not be expected to travel, their average age now being between 97-100+ years old, any other travel for research/educational purposes related to my work and of historical importance or relevance, and if and when needed the replacement of any equipment required for the project, due of course to natural ware and tare.
Until now, all of the very expensive requirements listed here and others that aren't have all been paid for and covered by me, and any money made from the sale of books reinvested in the project!
Add all this together and you can now see it all makes for a lot of things, both seen and unseen, that I have been maintaining all these years; all most people ever see is just the finished product, a book or a news article, without knowing all this lies behind it, and now at this critical stage with Book 3 completed and all this vital funding required in order to continue I hope you will feel moved enough and be generous enough through donations and spreading the word about my fundraiser to help me to continue my work to honour those who have done so much for us.
After having come so far in so many ways over the years it is critical to be able to have the help required to be able to continue, I thank you in advance from the bottom of my heart for any and all the help you can give to keep my Debt of Gratitude Project alive.
Warm Regards
Gary. :-)
**All donations are greatly appreciated. Anyone who contributes £100 or more will receive a copy of the new book signed by the Author.
*Some of the interesting, successful and moving moments on my veterans' journey are shown here in pictures and links; I am hoping to re-ignite these once again, and whilst achieving my goals and also continue helping others along the way. :-)
My work featured in Newspapers;
My work featured on T.V;
Facebook;
Organizer
GARY BRIDSON-DALEY
Organizer
England