Here's my dad 'giving me away' 44 years ago.
By a strange coincidence he died on this day, 22nd August, in 1998, on our 28th wedding anniversary. I know some of you on 365 have enjoyed my extracts from his PoW diaries so, hoping you will be interested and in remembrance today, I'm posting the biography which I wrote as a forewood to my edition of his diaries, produced for family and friends.
BERT ~ A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
"My father, Bertram Haig Martin, was born on January 12th, 1919 at White Cottages, Whitton, Suffolk to Levi, a farm worker, and his wife, Florence, one of a family of six children. As a child, he liked to help at home, was in the cubs and boy scouts and a server at church with his older brother, Jack. His surviving sister, Betty, recalls that aged 13 he won a crossword competition and with his prize money bought a puppy from a farm at Akenham. She remembers him keeping his few possessions carefully in a wooden box. He met his wife-to-be, May, when he was at Claydon High School.
My parents married in March 1941, four months before my dad went off to war. He had been conscripted in 1939, aged 20. He wrote part of his memoirs whilst a POW and part after his return home, and maybe this continuity helped him to settle down to civilian life again. I was born in 1946 and my sister, Wendy, in 1950.
My father was not in good health after the war and had to undergo an operation for a stomach ulcer, and was eventually granted a small war disablement pension. In 1981, he was interviewed by the Imperial War Museum about his time as a POW. This tape-recording is held in the sound archive at the museum and in it he was able to talk in more detail about events, such as his involvement, with other PoWs, in 'clearing up' the aftermath of Dresden, which were too painful for him to record in depth at the time. He was always interested in learning about other theatres of war in WW2 as he had felt isolated as a POW.
My dad was a methodical and meticulous man and I feel that he lived life with equanimity. He had a sense of humour coupled with a sense of fair play. Listening to music, especially classical, was always a great pleasure for him, and I remember him getting together with surviving army pals after the war to play the harmonica and the trumpet. He was a keen gardener, and liked especially to grow dahlias and sweet peas. When they were small, his four grandchildren benefited from his interest in DIY and carpentry as he made them beautifully finished toys. He was an enthusiastic follower of Ipswich Town Football Club and a lifelong supporter of the Labour Party.
His first job was as a printer’s apprentice and he worked next, as an estimator, at British Steel Piling Co. at Claydon, Suffolk. After he retired from BSP, he became an usher at Ipswich Crown Court, which he really enjoyed and found very interesting.
My parents were married for 45 years before my mother died suddenly in 1986. My father was devastated and could not bear the thought of spending the rest of his life alone. With his second wife, Frances, he travelled abroad extensively, and for the first time since his PoW days. They went to her native Philippines, and to America, Spain, France and Greece. He took the death of my sister, Wendy, in 1996, very hard and really did not believe what was happening.
In later life he liked baking and used to make fruit cake and Suffolk rusks. But his speciality when we went to tea was trifle, although thankfully using much better ingredients than he found to make it at Christmas-time in the PoW camps in Italy and Germany."
I'm not a religious person but I do consider myself a spiritual one and I believe that our family are always with us in spirit.
http://365project.org/quietpurplehaze/a-few-more/2014-08-22
Tomorrow will be my 17th wedding anniversary. I was married on the 23rd of August 1997.
Congratulations, Kane, to you and your good lady for 23rd, tomorrow here but you may already be in that day there!
Belated congratulations, Anne, to you both, on your anniversary.
Pat, I made it myself out of some sort of white crepe material, it was fully lined and it took me a weekend to sew on all those little yellow appliqued flowers! I made my going away dress and coat too - the dress pink & mauve flowered and little coat in mauve with covered buttons! Good to remember.
That is indeed ironic about your dad and mine - such stupid things happen in war. I'll never understand it - or the human race. My dad mostly wrote about his times as a PoW, didn't talk to us about it but I think the interview at the Imperial War Museum must have helped him to talk about the worst part of his war. So many men went through their lives with such dreadful memories.
Actually you wrote 'lunate' Pat not 'lunatic' and it has given me a good laugh!!! And what about sewer - it has another meaning doesn't it - a sewer is where waste goes!!!! haha - I do always enjoy your comments!!
I think it was a popular name then as both my grandmother's were called Florence. I never knew my paternal grandmother, the Florence mentioned here, as she died as a result of a road accident. I did a post about her here http://365project.org/quietpurplehaze/add-ins/2012-07-21
We had two nights at The Blue Boar in Cambridge. As for the sewing, I used to do loads for me and the children, even made Ray a snazzy towelling red dressing gown once - but I never want to do any more sewing again!
He name was also Bertram, woe betide anyone who used that name though. He was firmly a Bert, so sad he died on your Wedding anniversary.
You were a lovely bride honey
Claire, thanks for your comments and all your interest in my dad's diaries. My dad, like yours, was always known as Bert. It was strange my dad dying on our wedding anniversary. Also a bit uncanny as he sent us a card that year, which he did not normally do, and he wrote the date in it, which was became the date of his death. He died early in the morning from a stroke and thus we opened the card after he had died.
Yes, I do remember you saying that your dad was a PoW of the Japanese - very very hard.
Yes, it is - one of only a few taken in colour - mostly b&w pics in 1970!