CHAPTER ONE Continued..............The youngest of six, five boys and a girl, he was christened Edward
Scotsdon and typically received the title of Ted (at times he was called Eddy
or Shi-Ted). Born in Bermondsey, England, he stood at five foot eight
inches with a roundish face proudly entertaining a great mop of black curly
hair highlighting acne on the neck and shoulders; this eventually cleared. I
witnessed photographs and saw exactness in his hairdo to the ‘Afro’-textured
style as worn by Michael Jackson in his early days. Staunch and loyal in
character, with blue eyes and a youthful physique as accompanied most young men
of the time, helped perpetuate a command of people’s attention voluntary by way
of a natural genuine disposition. All this together with a magnetic personality
and a quick wit demanded the admiration of others. If not for the years spent
at war he would have surely seen varied and copious career opportunities
presented.
His four brothers and one sister who were all married and living away
from home also served the war effort in various locations, situations and
occupations. They helped their mother where possible but it was mainly Ted who
was burdened with providing for his mother. Before and after the war he was
always scrimping and scrapping, always trying to make ends meet, always looking
for honest work to accumulate and secure a few precious pounds; a necessity for
her survival as she was widowed at an early age in marriage and money earned
was quickly depleted on necessities.
Don’s mother was born in Middlewich.
She was two years younger than Ted, had one brother and one sister and was
christened Violet Irene Double. She never accepted her given name and much
preferred the title of Rene. In her teens she was temperamental, an inheritance
from her mother whom she was very close. Rene was good hearted, always ready to
help anyone in need and willing to share all her possessions; she was
especially susceptible in her generosity to those worse off. She was slim,
around five foot five inches with a slight chubbiness facially and two front
teeth protruding more than the usual. She hated those two ‘choppers’ (upper
central incisors); people nicknamed her ‘Goofy’, hated them so much so, in her
early twenties as soon as the opportunity presented itself she had those
perfectly good teeth extracted and replaced with dentures, all for the sake of
vanity and to prevent others from subjecting her to laughter and ridicule.
Although
Don was not born at the time of the war, he clearly remembered his parents
speaking of the ‘Blitz’ in the 1940’s, and of the years of sporadic bombing
Britain suffered which caused widespread damage. At times there was no bread,
milk, electricity or communications. Night after night the sirens would sound
alarms for retreat to bomb shelters for sanctuary. Like so many other people at
the time, a solace of war was to marry a lover whilst the chance and time
permitted. Ted and Rene grasped the opportunity, it was six months following
enlistment and he proposed, at the height of Britain’s bombardment, in Woolwich,
they exchanged to each other the vows to consummate a marriage, and although
Ted announced himself to the ‘RAF’ authorities as a newlywed it had no effect
on orders to attend active duty.
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