大象传媒

My family, Mother Father and us two boys, lived with my great aunt, who was a publican and kept the Lion and Pheasant in Shrewsbury. My Father was a skilled mechanic at a local garage and was aged 39 when war broke out,but because he was on the reserve, he was called up two weeks before.

He came home from work on that day, packed a small suitcase and was gone. We heard nothing more from him for about three weeks, then Mother had a short letter saying he was being posted abroad immediately, couldn't say where and not to worry.

Time went by, Mother had several more letters, but no indication of where he was, We guessed Father was in France, that being most likely.
Then the news broke of the evacuation from Dunkirk, of men being taken off the beaches in small boats under a hail of fire and bombs, we had heard nothing of father for several days, Mother feared the worse,we were all very depressed.

Great Aunt Elizabeth was very well known in the town due to her being the proprietor of the pub and Commercial hotel The Lion and Pheasant which catered for commrcial travellers staying in the town to display their wares. She was also well known to the local taxi drivers who brought her the travellers. One of the drivers was on the platform of Shrewsbury Station, a very busy junction in those days,with trains coming through from all points of the compass.

The taxi driver had completed his business and was about to leave when a long and heavy troop train came through on the middle road at about 10 mph, and without stopping carried on north towards Crewe. As the taximan watched a window in the train rattled down and a loud voice shouted, "Tell Mrs Heath Tom's alright" then the carriage moved on and was lost to sight. The Taximan, who's name I don't remember, rushed down to the pub which was at the other end of the town, and delivered the message. Mother broke down, I had never seen her in tears before, and we all joined in. Aunt Liz opened a rare bottle of port and gave the taximan a well deserved glass.

Several days later Mother received a letter from Father saying he was ok and nothing to worry about, he was with one of the last units to leave as they had to stay behind and scrap all the vehicles that were left behind by the retreating troops. When they were given the order to pull out they had to wait in water up to their chests for three hours. ducking underneath every time a plane straffed the beach. Eventually they were taken off by a fishing boat, which they had to bail constantly as it was full of holes. They were tranfered to a destroyer and brought home to Portsmouth.

Father came home on leave a week or two later when we told him the story, he never did find out who the voice belonged to.

Father took Mother back to Dunkirk before he died, he said afterwards that he wished he hadn't.

Phil Heath.

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