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My Father “William Henry Dale”

This story was submitted to the People’s War Website by Sutton Coldfield Library on behalf of Mrs Sheila Becke (Nee Dale), the daughter of William Henry Dale. The contributor fully understands the sites terms and conditions.

My father “William Henry Dale” returning from embarkation leave was supposedly destined for Germany. When his family saw him off at Snow Hill railway station that was the last they saw of him in 1943.

Shortly after, my mother, Mrs Edna Dale (nee Degenetais) received correspondence from De-O-Lalli, in India. The boat had been diverted, news that made my mother feel she wouldn’t see him again.

He wrote home regularly for a while keeping everyone informed regarding conditions and sending photographs until one day the usual letter didn’t arrive. After the non-arrival of a second and then a third, she began to suspect that something was wrong.

The story goes that on March 6th 1945, he’d set out as that day’s runner but didn’t return.

A search revealed hid rifle, wallet and first aid kit etc, at the side of a bog. One theory is that out of presence of mind he’d thrown these to the edge of the swamp to alert someone to his whereabouts.

Another story coming back was that the Japanese machine gun fire was heard, the English rifle fire, followed by Japanese machine gun fire then nothing. With the Japanese in retreat and little time for taking prisoners, this seems pheasable. It’s doubtful we’ll ever know what exactly happened on that day on March 6th 1945.

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