Three of Keith's uncles enlisted in World War One - one returned a psychically wounded man, another never came to grips with reality and suffered post-traumatic stress disorder.
The third never made it home.
The Great War became a very personal part of Brigadier Rossi's history, but he says it was never discussed in his childhood home.
“It was a dark cloud over the family,” he said.
“There was no talk about the war when I was a child.”
Brigadier Rossi said his uncle Bill was one of three uncles who enlisted to fight in World War One.
While Sid survived, Brigadier Rossi said he “got badly knocked about”.
“He had terrible scars on his back and he was in pain for the rest of his life,” he said.
“Uncle Bill, a giant of a man… He got what you would now call post-traumatic stress disorder. They didn't have those fancy names in those days, he just went mad.
“After the war, he was terrified. He could not believe the war had finished. He was terrified that he’d be sent back.”
But his Uncle Bernard, never returned.
He was killed at Gallipoli at Lone Pine, though his remains were never recovered.
Brigadier Rossi said he had read his uncle’s file, as well as his grandmother’s letters, written in the hope that Bernard had been taking prisoner.
“One day, in this very room, there was a World War One soldier with one eye,” he said.
“… And said he'd been an engineer in World War One and I said, which company, and he said engineers and I said, did you know Bernard Starky.
“Oh yes, we all knew Bernard… He used to play his violin and make us cry.”
Keith himself was later an artilleryman in the Middle East and Pacific in World War Two.
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