大象传媒

This is one of the stories collected on the 25th October 2003 at the CSV's Make a Difference Day held at 大象传媒 Manchester. The story was typed and entered on to the site by a CSV volunteer with kind permission of Albert Findlow.

A FAMILY AT WAR

My Father said 鈥淭here is another war coming. I have had four years and
thirty five days of war. It is no fun and when the war does start I am not
going and neither are any of my lads!鈥�
Back in 1938 we were a family at war. When Neville Chamberlain
returned from Munich Dad鈥檚 reaction was that we were going to have another
war. He made two predictions one was that there was a war coming and the
second was that he wouldn鈥檛 go and 鈥渘either are any of my lads!鈥� One he got
right one he got wrong.
His lads were William, Arthur, John, Harold, Albert, Wilfred, James,
Fred and Frank. Between the years 1940 to 1946 apart from Dad and Harold,
John went into the Lancashire Fusiliers; Arthur, Albert and James to the
Royal Corps of Signals; Wilfred Joined the Royal Navy; Fred went to the Army
Catering Corps and the baby of the family Frank, to the youngest of the
three services the Royal Air Force.
The family saw service in the U.K, Malta, Italy, the Mediterranean,
the Atlantic, Africa, India and Burma.
It was some time in 1940 when the first of the lads received his call up
papers under the conscription Act by the end of 1940 we had all entered the
war.
Well you can imagine my mother when we returned home you don鈥檛 think at
the time your mother鈥檚 reaction. But my belief was I was going in alive and
I mean鈥檛 to come out alive God willing. My Dad鈥檚 attitude also changed when
Harold joined the Royal Artillery- 鈥淚f my lads can be in it, then so can I!鈥�
I joined up as a wireless operator but never achieved that but become
a linesman instead. When you think back we knew were we where but we never
really thought of the effect it was having on our mother and the rest of the
family. John was the only one who came out wounded he was wounded in Italy.
A Father and eight sons and they all came out alive. A family that served in
the forces it鈥檚 a simple story of how we survived the war as a family.
One of my brothers had a miraculous escape. Wilfred was in the Navy as
a stoker on the battleship Queen Elizabeth and it was in dry dock in
Alagradria. He was in the engine room when Jerry dropped a bomb down the
funnel. Landed in the Engine room鈥� It was a none banger! Call it fate call
it what you will but when you consider that the Mac Roberts from Scotland
had three sons and all perished in the R.A.F here was a family with eight
sons and we survived.

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