AN EDEN writer has penned a moving biography of her late father’s war years to highlight issues surrounding post traumatic stress among soldiers.

Carole Morland, of Tebay, said she published A Dalesman’s War to raise awareness of the illness, as well as cash to help today’s soldiers who are suffering from the syndrome across Britain.

Mrs Morland is donating all the proceeds from the 56-page book to the soldiers’ charity Help for Heroes. It tells the story of her father, Stan Haygarth, of Dent, who fought with the British Army in France.

The book, completed over the summer, recounts Mr Haygarth’s life in Dent in the 1930s, before his world was turned upside down by the Second World War.

He suffered a facial disfigure-ment and lost fingers in France, but it was the mental injury that had the most devastating impact on his life.

Mrs Morland describes how Normandy haunted her father, preventing him from ever living a normal life after the war.

The book depicts the contin-uous nightmares and the chall-enges he faced when he returned to a quiet village with no-one around to understand his turm-oil.

Mrs Morland said: “I saw on television that more than 1,100 ex-servicemen are sleeping rough in London after returning from war. Many of these people had turned to drink, or drugs, as there just isn’t the help for them, so they end up on the streets.

“This is exactly the problem my father had. There was no support for either his physical, or mental injuries and I wanted to do my little bit to change that.”

Mrs Morland, who is suffering from terminal cancer, and said she wanted to make a difference while she was still alive.

“It took quite a bit of time in terms of research for the book. I went through letters between my mum and dad and our family archives. But I wanted to do something to help the situation for soldiers, even if it’s only a little bit, while I’m still here.”

This is Mrs Morland’s second book. Her first – A Walk on the Wild Side – was based on a wild herd of fell ponies living in Tebay.

It focuses on how the rare animals interact with each other and has been selling world-wide.

Anyone wishing to buy either book should visit www.hayloft.eu/