Daily Express - 02.09.2019

Daily Express Monday, September 2, 2019 19

DX1ST

Picture: BRIDGEMAN, ANNABEL VENNINGS PRIVATE COLLECTION

MODEL BRIDE: Bee and

Gaddis’s wedding. The US flyer

was later lost over the Atlantic

beating another prisoner. As punishment, he
was staked out in the merciless heat and
forced to stare at the sun – permanently
damaging his eyesight.
He was also shut in a bamboo cage, 5ft
square, too small to stand in, with a
corrugated iron roof that turned it into an
oven under the burning sun.
Before Peter had left India, a holy man
told him: “You will soon enter a very dark
tunnel, you will suffer very greatly. But I can
see light at the end of it. You will survive.”
Peter clung to this prophecy, even as he

watched his friends die. “Somehow I knew

I’d get through,” he said.

While Peter struggled to survive the

cruelty of the Japanese, Walter was discover-

ing what formidable foes they were.

In 1942 he was part of an army that

retreated through Burma as the Japanese,

with superior air power, pursued them

relentlessly. Only the skill of their com-

mander, the tough and imperturbable Lt

General Bill Slim, saved them from annihila-

tion, although many had died by the time

they reached the safety of India. Walter was

among the survivors and was reunited with

his wife, Beryl, who gave birth to twin sons –

my uncles – in India later that year.

In 1944, aged 32, Walter was promoted to

lieutenant-colonel and given command of a

Gurkha battalion.

It was part of the Fourteenth Army, a new

force trained and commanded by Slim,

whose brilliant leadership turned the tide

against the Japanese, defeating them at

the battles of Kohima and Imphal, where

Walter fought.

By 1945, the British were ready to

advance back into Burma to

avenge the defeats of 1942.

Walter was an exacting, ruthless

commanding officer. The motto of

his battalion became ‘Live Hard, Fight

Hard, and, when necessary, Die Hard.’

He had seen what the Japanese did to pris-

oners, crucifying them, bayoneting them,

burning them alive. And he knew that his

brother Peter was in their hands, if he was

still alive. It sharpened his resolve.

A

CROSS the world in Italy, Edward

was also commanding a battalion,

the 1st Jaipur Infantry. As the Allies

advanced, the Germans left landmines

behind and one night in April 1945 Edward

was picking his way carefully through the

countryside when there was a shattering

explosion and he was flung into the air. He

had set off a landmine but incredibly sur-

vived, unhurt but stunned.

A few weeks later, Walter had a similarly

close shave. Back at home, Victory in Europe

was being celebrated, but for the men of the

Fourteenth Army, the bitter fighting contin-

ued in Burma. In the middle of one battle,

Walter was relaying orders to his men via a

wireless set strapped to a mule. He finished

and stepped away, just as a shell screamed

overhead and landed on the unfortunate

creature, obliterating it and its handler.

The end of the war brought both triumph

and tragedy. Walter and Edward were

awarded Distinguished Service Orders for

their courage and leadership, but back at

home their parents, while proud, remained

deeply worried as they waited for news

of Peter. It was several weeks before they

learned he had survived.

Nor was Bee in any mood to celebrate. A

few months earlier, her husband, now a

squadron leader, had been in a plane that

disappeared over the Atlantic.

Ruth, meanwhile, had become engaged to

another man but broke it off, unable to for-

get her first love, John Fisher.

In 1948 John realised he couldn’t forget

her either. He had split from Isabella and

came to Britain to find Ruth. They were

reunited at London’s Waterloo Station and

married that year.

The Walkers’ story is a remarkable one,

encompassing the home front, the battle-

fields of Italy, India, Burma, and Malaya, and

the Death Railway. But it is also typical

of the incredible sacrifices, heartbreaks,

triumphs and tragedies experienced by many

families up and down the land, to whom we

owe so much.

●To War With The Walkers by Annabel

Venning (Hodder & Stoughton,

£20.00). For your copy with

free UK delivery, call Express

Bookshop on 01872 562310, or

send a cheque/PO payable to

Express Bookshop: The Walkers

Offer, PO Box 200, Falmouth

TR11 4WJ or visit

expressbookshop.co.uk

Starved, beaten,

tortured, blown

up. Would all six

siblings survive?

TION

MODMODMODMODODODDELELELEL ELEELELBRBRIBRIBRIBRIBRIRIDEDEDEDEDEDE::BBee and

The

battalion’s

motto was ‘Live

Hard’ – and when

necessary

• ‘Die Hard’