|
|
| Denis Nagle's details |
 For over 20 years i had been trying to track down a certain private "dave" davidson, who had been my dadīs great mate in `bī company during his time in the middlesex regiment, 1943-45. they had shared the perils of the anzio beachhead, the battles in florence, and the bombs, bullets and "ball-freezing temperatures" of the gothic line. his was the only photo dad had kept from the war, a young fresh-faced londoner with a penchant for punching by all accounts. dad certainly remembered his boxing prowess, and this was borne out by another die-hardīs (nickname for soldiers of the regiment) photo of dave in sparring pose with a less robust `bī company man. but despite other ex-die-hards recalling a distinctly cockney voice, davidson featured on the `bī compay list compiled in 1945 as living in "denny street, salford." a red herring that meant all my searching was in vain.
many years later, in 2005, i joined forces rennited, and a few months later, on 20th june, i was idly browsing through the two dozen or so ex-middlesex regiment men and my attention was immediately drawn to the private john davidson halfway down the list. next to his name he had added proudly the same battle honours as dad (with a few more thrown up by a slightly hazy memory). i thought it was too good to be true, so i checked his army number. the same 7 digits screamed at me from the musty pages typed 60 years earlier. they tallied! i must confess, the first thing that crossed my mind was a desperate hope that he was still alive. i had always imagined him to be a man around the same age as dad, which would put him in his early 90s. i sent an e-mail straight away, guessing, correctly, that it would be a son or daughter i was contacting.
over the next six days i checked my e-mails virtually every hour, longing for that message that would put me in touch with my fatherīs past. then finally on 26th june, i found a message waiting for me in my inbox. from his daughter, who sounded as excited as me to have got in touch with the "famous paddy", about whom her dad had told so many stories. she told me of the tears in his eyes when he heard, on his 80th birthday, that "paddy" had passed away 21 years earlier. that in itself touched me. but i was excited, saddened, moved, by so many other anecdotes that came from this contact. i have since met him three times, once with my (then) 8-year-old son, once alone, and once with my wife and both children. his letters, e-mails and our conversations have helped me to understand my father more. all the information has spurred me on to do far more research into the experiences of the battalion than i had hitherto felt necessary, and left me in even greater awe of what these men had to endure. their bravery and sacrifice is impossibe for us to fathom, but not to admire.
my only regret is that the internet was not invented 30 years earlier. how much more emotional, stirring and heartening it would have been for me to witness dad meeting up with his best army pal and hearing them bring the past back to life.
nevertheless, i for one, through this contact with "dave" davidson, will make sure that the exploits of this particular company of die-hards will be remembered well into the new century.
 John Mcloughlin
|
|
|
|
Name:
;'))