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This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Odilia Roberts from the Derby Action Team on behalf of James Hamilton Dixon and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

I remember,
Relics from milestones past,
Some with shadow of a ghost,
But never familiar figure of a father seen,
Among my memories entire host,
I remember,
At five years a man in uniform,
Last goodbye in our backyard,
That night told I would be just like him,
A no use Royal Naval blackguard,
I remember,
Tears hurting inside my heart,
Frequent frustrated flogging,
The bombers over London, searchlights,
Ack-ack gun-sound thumping,
I remember,
Bom-bom-bom-bom-bom-bom,
The beat through bedroom floor,
My mother could not bear to be closed in,
By any air-raid shelter door,
I remember,
Doodlebug snarling shut off,
Silent bomb gliding-coming,
Yet felt safe cuddled in my mother’s arms,
Why was she quietly crying,
I remember,
Her prophesy for my life’s Odyssey,
To be kept by a prison warder,
A useless drunk locked up, like my father,
Judged then hung for murder,
I remember,
Taking cabbage from a garden,
To help mum’s empty larder,
Then a hiding so hard, it made me cry help,
From my long absent father,
I remember,
When we broke an air-raid warning,
London as a bonfire burning,
Sad starry eyes of my mother, she said,
Adolf Hitler, he is laughing,
I remember,
No grown men, gone away together,
Off to fight Hitler’s might,
Left me to new schools, not a pal in sight,
Always alone, so often in a fight,
I remember,
Seven years old, another beating,
Could have caused us bother,
Near broke my arm, after that promise kept,
Floggings finish, not one other,
I remember,
End of war everyone rejoiced,
Hitler’s rule at last was over,
Sad for me, sent away to someone else,
A wicked women keeper,
I remember,
She said my mother got rid of me,
Because I had no father,
Later told he was not loved any more,
When I asked my mother,
I remember,
Growing-up, getting bolder,
Booze brawls, brazen women older,
Hurrahs, but no belief that was right,
Dangers, dares, handcuffs, prison warder,
Chained in solitary with no light,
I remember,
Never shed a tear, though sharp sorrow,
Sweeps before your eyes,
Twenty three years as a paratrooper,
‘Every man an emperor’, from the skies,
I remember,
Two more lives, than a lucky cat spent,
Long years military left behind,
Chancing a church, my eyes were opened,
Then I was no longer blind,
I remember,
Grace given, in a world always offering,
Bad women booze and fight,
For Jesus teaches how to forgive, with love,
To turn from darkness into light,
I remember,
Christ is my Redeemer, in His love I live,
By salvation I am His brother,
Free and forgiven, at last I know my Father,
Now always cherish, memories of my mother.

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