大象传媒

In 1939 I was only 14 years old.
I worked at Jack Dunn's butchers shop which was at the corner of our street. One of the ladies that worked there at the time, Freda Atkinson, taught me how to link sausages and bone joints.
I remember the day that Middlesbrough Station was damaged by bombing. It was the 3rd of August, Bank Holiday Monday, 1940, and my friends and I were walking down the street. We looked up when we heard a plane above us and saw a German bomber (later we learnt it was a Dornier 217). We were excited and were pointing and waving as it flew under the barrage balloons. It must have been fifing at the ground because a chap came out and shouted at us to get inside before we were killed. We didn鈥檛 realise that it was carrying bombs and heading for Middlesbrough!
I had three brothers who were all in the forces and I remember the day one of them, Ted, was about to be shipped out. Rumours had been spreading that he was being sent to Poland, and everyone was keen to give him a good send off. There were double decker buses full of soldiers, and friend and relatives there to wave goodbye. My mother and Ted鈥檚 wife were crying and we followed the buses to see him for as long as possible. We were all amazed when they stopped only a few miles away from home!
Ted never did get to Poland.
I was desperate to join up. Although I loved aeroplanes, I tried to join the Royal Navy when I was 17 but was refused because I was too young. In 1944, when I was 18, I was accepted for the army, I joined the Durham Light Infantry.
I was eventually posted to Berlin, then Trieste, where part of my job was to police the border with Yugoslavia. Luckily I didn鈥檛 see much action while there.
I remember clearly how I met my wife. I was on the last day of my home leave and I had been shopping for treats for the lads back in Trieste, things we couldn鈥檛 get hold of over there. As I came out of a shop, I bumped into an old school friend, Stan Wilson and his girlfriend Bella. We chatted for a while and then Stan asked if I would like to make a foursome that night with him and Bella, and one of her friends. I said I could not go as I had a train to catch at midnight as my leave was over and I was due back at barracks. After much persuasion I agreed to go with them and go back to camp late. However when we go to the pictures that night, Bella鈥檚 friend wasn鈥檛 there, and I ended up feeling a 鈥渞ight gooseberry鈥� with Stan and Bella in the back row! The next night I was invited to Stan鈥檚 house and was sat doing a crossword when Bella came in. 鈥淟ook who鈥檚 here, Walt鈥� she said. I turned around and saw a girl who Bella introduced as Edie. She has gorgeous legs! We all went dancing until it was time for me to get the midnight train back to camp. As the train pulled out Stan ran up to it and handed me Edie鈥檚 address written on an empty Woodbines packet, 鈥渏ust in case you want to write to Edie鈥�, he said.
That was the start of our romance and we wrote to each other for the rest of the war and we saw each other whenever I was home on leave. I remember how I used to make fun of Edie鈥檚 鈥渟tockings鈥�! Because real stockings were very expensive to buy, so women used to colour their legs brown and paint a black line at the back to look like a seam. It was difficult to get the line straight and I would always point out how crooked Edie鈥檚 鈥渟tocking seams鈥� were. She was delighted when I bought back 4 pairs of silk stockings the next time I came home on leave.
Edie and I married on the 18th of September 1948, and although I was late for the wedding and (some people thought she was being jilted!) we are still together now, 57 years later.

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