Graham Bandy has spent most of his life in the army, nursing, or doing both. He has been collecting military badges since he was at school.
After joining the army as a teenager, he went on to serve in Northern Ireland, Germany and with the United Nations in Cyprus with 2nd bn the Royal Anglian Regiment.
After leaving the forces he went on to train as a Registered Nurse, and was subsequently commissioned in to the Queen Alexandras Royal Army Nursing Corps in 1999.
Since that date he has honed his military history and military genealogical skills, and is now a much sought after asset at both county and national family history fairs, such as WDYTYA Live and Family Tree Live, and has also appeared as a military expert on BBC's WDYTYA amongst a number of other TV programmes.. Graham also gives many talks and lectures on the subject of badge and photographic identification, and sits on the Heritage Committee of the QARANC Association.
Graham now works for the Society of Genealogists and runs the highly successful Armed Forces Advice Hour, and gives a number of lectures for them.
He also writes frequently for Family Tree Magazine, and has a large article in the current (January) edition of the magazine. Graham also attended the press launch of the new World War two collections at the National Archives as the magazine’s military expert.
He is also a successful author having published books with Pen and Sword on badge and uniform identification for family historians and an about to be released (February) WW2 diary and memoirs of a RAF Nursing Orderly who found himself at the front line in Yugoslavia working for the Special Operations Executive!
Graham has four more books commissioned, and is working on a new one in conjunction with Family Tree Magazine which will be published to coincide with the 80th anniversary of VE Day.
He is married and lives in Sussex with his wife and an ever-growing collection of militaria and military photographs, - and Warhammer - under which they are both slowly drowning.
