大象传媒

My Father was Arthur Whiting he was in the R.A.M.C. and was wounded at Dunkirk, he had shrapnel wounds in his head and leg. He didn't often talk about his experiences, but I do remember him just once, saying that he would 'never ever be able to forget the sickening thud, as his mates fell dead all around him'......he was forever haunted by the sound.
He was sent to a hospital called Calderstones up in Whalley, Near Clitheroe, Lancashire. One summers day when he was recovering, he was walking with a friend towards the village, when he passed my Mother walking with her friend on a picnic, they were going to have their picnic on the river bank, as the two soldiers passed by, my Mother and her friend said to each other 'they looked nice' and then one of them took a peep over her shoulder, she said 'hey they're looking, now you look this time', the other one looked and said 'hey, they're coming'. My Mother said 'I hope that tall handsome one walks next to me'.......sure enough he did, they said 'may we walk with you'? They invited them on the picnic, and at the end of a lovely summers day, my Father said to my Mother, 'I would like to see you again'. She said 'Oh I'm far too old for you'. She was 35 and he was 24, he said 'age doesn't come into it'. So every day after that for 6 weeks he met her outside work, she worked in a Lancashsire cotton mill in Great Harwood. He walked from Whalley to Great Harwood every single day, she always remembered in detail that happy time. The weather was wonderful, the sun shone every day, and she couldn't wait for the looms to stop and she could rush outside to meet him. Her friends nudging each other and saying 'have you seen Emma's boyfriend'? He was gorgeous 6'2 1/2" tall with blue eyes, he looked wonderful in his uniform. They were married on Boxing Day 1940 a sunny clear frosty day, with Bob Long his Army friend as Best Man, no one else was there from his family as they lived far away in Kent.
They lived to see their Golden Wedding and were very happy, I don't know of a happier couple.
I was brought up to hear my Mother say 'Your Dad is a man in a million'. She said it many many times over the years. And on the day my Mother died at 88 years old my Father said 'I treasured every day I spent with her'......he wasn't given to flowery words, but they were from the heart and said with a great deal of thought. He died a couple of months after his 80th birthday, he never got over her going and missed her every day, it was a real love match.
My sister Dorothy and I were lucky to have had such loving devoted parents. At my Father's funeral I read out a goodbye letter to them and ended with the words 'In Emma and Arthur's memory give someone you love a hug today'.
If any of my Father's old mates read this,
I hope that they will get in touch with me and tell me a little more of what he was like, for I miss him so much and would love to know more.
Patricia Townson
patricia.townson@ntlworld.com
www.patsbnb.tripod.com

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