Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with friend of the show Clive Bradford about a letter his Grandfather wrote to his mother during WW1

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Katie Woolf spoke with friend of the show Clive Bradford about a letter his Grandfather wrote to his mother during WW1 · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: If you want to know what's happening on the local
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: political landscape, Katie Wolf has it covered on three sixty.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Every One is Listening Mixed one oh four point nine.
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  Speaker 1: As we gear up, obviously to reflect on Anzac Day.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: We got a phone call from a friend of the
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  Speaker 1: show on Friday last week and had heard quite an
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  Speaker 1: incredible story about one hundred and four year old letter
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  Speaker 1: written by my next guest grandfather. Now you may have
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  Speaker 1: seen him on the front page of the paper yesterday
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  Speaker 1: as well. He is Territory and his name's Clive Bradford
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  Speaker 1: and he joins me in the studio this morning. Good morning, Clive.
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  Speaker 2: Morning Katie, Good morning listeners.
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  Speaker 1: It's great to have you in the studio. Clive, and
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  Speaker 1: I'm really fascinated by this story. Can you tell me
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  Speaker 1: a little bit about your grandfather?
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  Speaker 2: Firstly, I don't know a great deal. I didn't know
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  Speaker 2: this it was there until I found out from my uncle,
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  Speaker 2: who's just paied away on the end of January. He
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: did a lot of the family history as my mother
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  Speaker 2: did as a family trees, but passed away many years ago.
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  Speaker 2: But Uncle Nigel had dementia and he had got stuff
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  Speaker 2: stashed everywhere and his daughter's trying to find it all.
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  Speaker 2: But she found this one, yep, and passed it on
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  Speaker 2: to me. And it's something that's it's unbelievable.
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  Speaker 1: It is unbelievable. You've shown me a copy of this letter.
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  Speaker 1: You've got it with you this morning. It's laminated. It
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  Speaker 1: is one hundred and four years old.
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  Speaker 2: He wrote it when he was in a trench and
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  Speaker 2: it says in the parmi here when he was at
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  Speaker 2: evening's dressed, you'd been fighting and killing all day long
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  Speaker 2: and he was in amongst mud and there was probably
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  Speaker 2: corpses and bodies around with bombs and bullets going off.
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  Speaker 2: And he can stop and write there and write it
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  Speaker 2: as neat as I could ever do.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, it is unbelievable. It's beautifully written. The penmanship is amazing.
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  Speaker 2: And it's on blank paper. Yeah, and no biro pencil.
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  Speaker 2: It was a point with ink the ink bottle.
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  Speaker 1: Yep. Now, are you happy to read this letter out
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  Speaker 1: for us?
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  Speaker 2: Have a go to go now.
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  Speaker 1: It's titled an Ode to Gene and it's written in
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  Speaker 1: a poetic style. It's written to his three month old
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  Speaker 1: daughter Jean.
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  Speaker 2: Isn't it Your mum was three months when he.
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  Speaker 1: Went to war, So your mum, Oh, let's hear this letter.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, an ode to Jeane, Sweet flare of youth in
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  Speaker 2: childhood's grace, Fair rosy sunbeams shine upon your face. I
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  Speaker 2: do not see your one hundred prattling ways. I pray
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  Speaker 2: to see you soon in better peaceful days and a
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  Speaker 2: hundred blessings. And daily you bestow to keep parential love
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  Speaker 2: a kindling glow. You take the place of me, the
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  Speaker 2: absent part, and help to cheer a mother's lonely heart.
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  Speaker 2: I hear your evening prayers. They wafted upon the breeze.
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  Speaker 2: You pray. You know not why, but Mother knows and sees.
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  Speaker 2: And as I sit at evening's rest, I hear refrains
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  Speaker 2: of sweet lullabye. I long to touch and soothe you.
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  Speaker 2: If pageants you cry when I return a stranger, Aye
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  Speaker 2: to you, to you who wept in swaddling when I said,
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  Speaker 2: are to you too young to know that the meeting
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  Speaker 2: of my kiss will mother's heavy heart and ending of
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  Speaker 2: her bliss by nature's law? Just as the flower you've grown,
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  Speaker 2: this great old world is yet to you unknown. Your
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  Speaker 2: mother now your world, and all in all to soothe
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  Speaker 2: and cherish you when you slip and fall. No thought
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  Speaker 2: of war encumbers that young mind. But as the butterfly,
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  Speaker 2: your joy in sunshine, fine, a living flower that daily
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  Speaker 2: hourly grows, sweet fragrant in Love's garden with the joyous rose.
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  Speaker 2: I see the little swallows in their nest, bide their
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  Speaker 2: mother with her wings. Check that even tide. My thoughts
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  Speaker 2: across that great blue sea cast in fancies. There I
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  Speaker 2: rest with you and yours at last, Daddy. A little
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  Speaker 2: ps and the bottom is I've tried to write as
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  Speaker 2: plainly as patience permits for a few kisses.
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  Speaker 1: Oh Clive, what's it like for you having that letter,
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  Speaker 1: you know, written to your mum?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's breaking, and it's even worse when Grandpa didn't
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  Speaker 2: come home.
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  Speaker 1: Oh goodness, may Clive, it's it's hard to hear that.
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  Speaker 1: That makes me feel really emotional thinking of your mom
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  Speaker 1: than never having her dad come home. And you reading that,
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  Speaker 1: How does that make you feel having that, you know,
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  Speaker 1: having that letter and knowing.
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  Speaker 2: That so proud? Yeah, so proud. And I in the
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  Speaker 2: paper today. That's some blow. David. I think your name
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  Speaker 2: was that you said it should be in a war memorial.
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  Speaker 2: This is part of my body. This is in my
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  Speaker 2: heart and if people want a copy and put it
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  Speaker 2: on a wall, but I will keep the original because
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  Speaker 2: it involves my family.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, mate, I know that you really want people to
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  Speaker 1: you know, upon hearing this, and as we all head
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  Speaker 1: toward Anzac Day, you want people to really reflect on
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  Speaker 1: the sacrifices that not only that our soldiers have made
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  Speaker 1: and continue to make, but the sacrifices of their families.
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  Speaker 2: That's right, because we take this day, we take it
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  Speaker 2: too much. For granted, we've got everything on hand, there's
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  Speaker 2: nothing that we don't want, but greed is a big
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  Speaker 2: part of our nature these days, and it's not good.
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  Speaker 2: But we can sit down and reflect on the times
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  Speaker 2: we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for people like
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  Speaker 2: my grandfather and thousands of others. And it's great to
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  Speaker 2: see aec coming up. The young one's allowed to march
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  Speaker 2: and to help bring it back up to where it
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  Speaker 2: should be. But apparently this year is not going to
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  Speaker 2: be with the marching in some of the cities. But
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  Speaker 2: if everybody can take ten minutes and shit outside and
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  Speaker 2: listen to the serenity and think about how lucky we.
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  Speaker 1: Are, you are one hundred percent spot on and Clive,
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  Speaker 1: that is what we're hearing here on the text line
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  Speaker 1: as well, I've got a message, Dear Katie. You guys
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  Speaker 1: have me crying as well another one. What a moving leader.
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  Speaker 1: It's brought tears to my eyes. And I know that
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  Speaker 1: so many people listening this morning will feel exactly the
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  Speaker 1: same as I did upon hearing what you have just
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  Speaker 1: read out. And I think at the very least, at
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: least we get to embrace Anzac Day here in the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory. I know not everybody's going to be in
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  Speaker 1: the same situation around the nation, but I am pleased
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  Speaker 1: that here in the territory we are still going to
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  Speaker 1: be able to commemorate and remember people like your grandfather
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  Speaker 1: as they should be.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, when both my parents were in the Second World War,
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  Speaker 2: and the elder brother he went to Vietnam, and Mom
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  Speaker 2: and Dad and Peter don't speak about the war or
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  Speaker 2: the atrocities, which is fair enough because we probably don't
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  Speaker 2: want to hear them. We just want to know that
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  Speaker 2: they've come home, the ones that have come home, and
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  Speaker 2: to enjoy the air we breathe and the freedom we've
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  Speaker 2: got and not abuse it.
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  Speaker 1: That's exactly right, Clive. I'm so grateful that you've come
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  Speaker 1: in this morning and that you have shot, you've read
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  Speaker 1: that letter out and you've shared it with all of
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  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory. I think it's such an important thing
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  Speaker 1: to do, and the message that you bring along with
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  Speaker 1: it is even more important.
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  Speaker 2: I could do. And as I said, if anybody wants
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  Speaker 2: to be in contact with me and he wants to
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  Speaker 2: have heard a copy of it had to put on
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  Speaker 2: the memorial wall or whatever. I'm more than willing. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: but you won't get the original.
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  Speaker 1: No, fair enough, mate, fair enough because it is from
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  Speaker 1: your grandfather to your mum, and I can understand that
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  Speaker 1: we will certainly if anybody out there listening does want
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  Speaker 1: to get in contact with you, we'll be able to
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  Speaker 1: pass those details on as well.
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  Speaker 2: Clive.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you so much for coming here.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: Too, mate. It is just twenty seven minutes after eleven o'clock,
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  Speaker 1: and I tell you what, We've got a lot of
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  Speaker 1: messages people coming through. Just actually really grateful that Clive
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  Speaker 1: has shared that with us, and he is a genuine
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  Speaker 1: territory and Clive Bradford