大象传媒

This is the story about the chance meeting between my father and my mother in 1943.
My father-John or Jack as he came to be called during the war had been working at Short Brothers in Rochester and Bedford.
He was called up to the Royal Signals and was stationed in places such as Thirsk Racecourse. He was then stationed in Uxbridge. In the meantime,my mother had been called up in the WAAF and had been stationed at Croydon,Melksham,Morecambe and Harrow on the Hill. While stationed at Harrow,my mother-Queenie Wallis and her friends had made their way to the canteen at RAF Uxbridge. While passing my father's group there was an exchange of words and my father commented that the WAAF girls were a group of "cockneys". My mother instantly replied that there was nothing wrong with cockneys,and thus the conversation was in progress.
They kept in contact and my father was part of the D-Day invasion group and the push to Berlin. The Royal Signals were stationed in Steinbergen near Hanover for a long period and he was eventually demobbed in 1946.
They married the same year and remained happily married for over 50 years.
Wishing to recall happy memories I planned a return to Uxbridge on their 50th wedding anniversary.
We drove in a roundabout way and ended up at the front gates of the base.
Two servicemen stood there with automatic weapons and we requested permission to go into the base to take some photos in front of the spitfire monument. After various telephone calls, permission was granted.
My father was able to give an account of the layout of the base and was taken to be a genuine veteran on a bona fide errand.
Under the watchful eye of security personnel we entered the base and took a number of photos.
My father remarked on the irony of the situation. "It ws never this difficult to get into the camp before, and there was a war on then"
Both my parents have passed on and I would have loved them to have been around for the 60th Anniversary of VE day, along with those remaining today. We owe them all a lot of thanks!

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