Chotie Darling
Dedicated to the memory of my mother
and all those who hold the forever young of war in their hearts.
Part 1 The Blue Cockade
Chapter 1 A Soldier on Salisbury Plain
Dunkirk, the famous rescue of the defeated Allied Forces trapped on the northern shores of France, took place over ten days leading up to Tuesday 4th June 1940.
On that day Winston Churchill addressed Parliament and the nation with these words:
“We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender”
(Reproduced with permission of Curtis Brown Ltd, London on behalf of the Estate of Sir Winston Churchill. Copyright © Winston S. Churchill )
On 18th June 1940 his speech to the House of Commons ended:
“the Battle of France is over, I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin… The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age …. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will say,
“This was their Finest Hour”.
(Reproduced with permission of Curtis Brown Ltd, London on behalf of the Estate of Sir Winston Churchill. Copyright © Winston S. Churchill )
On 21st June 1940 Richard Kelner Williams, age 18, occupation ‘student’, was enrolled in the British Territorial Army at Weymouth in Dorset and assigned to the 6th Dorset Infantry Regt, to assemble in the Drill Hall, Wilton Rd, Salisbury.
They were ‘the Bath & Dorsets’ then but for June and July Dick was based in Wiltshire at Salisbury, Quidhampton and Dinton.
Saturday 22nd June 1940
Miss Barbara Chalkley
The Hollies
Commercial Rd
Parkstone, Poole,
Dorset
Salisbury
Saturday
Darling Chotie*,
I’m terribly sorry I haven’t been able to write before but have not had a moment to spare. I’m trying to write on a window-sill at the Drill Hall at Salisbury, as the Sergeant has gone out. Had a rather stiff medical, with eight doctors. I could have kidded one, but eight was too much. Unfortunately I passed A.1.
I left Weymouth at 2pm Friday afternoon for Salisbury. Arrived here at 4.30 approx. and was given tea by Sergeant of the guard. We are at present under canvas in the heart of the country about 2 miles from Salisbury. It is only a temporary camp of about 30. We are moving to a larger camp sometime next week. At the moment I have no number nor address, but will let you know immediately I get one.
I must close now as the Sergeant is coming and try to get some stamps.
Bye bye darling
Your devoted quack-quack
Dicker
* Hindustani for ‘Little One’
© Chotie Darling, 2010
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