Forever Endeavour - a synopsis
Widowed in the first war, with two children and no money, John's mother settled in a tiny
one-bedroom terraced house in Newcastle with her mother. She had to become a prostitute to
earn her living as her earnings in the factory brought little. Her mother slept on a chair
by the coal range in the kitchen. John slept in the big bed with many different "Daddo"s.
Cold, with skimpy clothes and sometimes no shoes John would roam Newcastle, happy and free:
several times he was returned home by the police. When he was five, and after the arrival of
several more babies with whom he shared the big bed if they lived to be old enough, John's
mother packed him off to an orphanage.
Here again John was often cold, always hungry, and was sexually abused by the staff. But here
was sport and companionship, and though lonely he felt safe. He missed his mother badly. No
one ever came to see him and he had no parcels or post.
He left as soon as he could, taking any job that would have him. He joined a mobile boxing
booth and for the first time in his life was fed a good meal 'to build him up' as his employer
would say. His boxing skills improved greatly. At the start of WWII the booth closed down
instantly owing to the imposition of blackout.
John told lies about his age and immediately joined up in the Pioneer Corps, and was
straightway sent to France to help combat the advance of the German armies. Within two months
he was taken prisoner, and after a long march and transportation in a crowded cattle truck
with little water, and even less space to pee, he was sent to a prisoner of war camp in Poland.
He was very angry, blaming himself for the situation, very fit and weighed ten stone. Five
years of terrible hardship, cold and at times only 200 calories a day took a heavy toll of
his health, and his morale dipped. To keep the German guards occupied John made six escapes,
one of which lasted six days. The guards vented their fury on escapees, and made life even
harder, throwing cold water on the floor of their underground cells: by morning this would be
frozen. One old blanket was all he had to combat the cold.
One morning, with thoughts that life was not worth living, John glanced up at his tiny
cell window. All he could see from this window was the roof and gutter of the adjacent block.
But from this window came a shaft of sunlight. Through this sunlight John could see a small
pink flower growing out of the gutter of the roof. Immediately his spirits were re-charged:
he reckoned that if a flower could blossom without soil, and the sun could still shine then
he could pick himself up and face the world and all its problems. He watched for the sunbeam
every day.
He wrote these poems:
One shaft of sunlight to a captive brought
All problems of an enraged sun to naught
Cupped trembling hands these minute prisms held.
This union with the living air
Is more than counted years not breathed before.
If chosen, sight and feeling can survive
Transforming time and place, each day alive.
Time does remain free of fear
To go right back to the year
Truth along inspired,
Then without stress or misuse of force
To alter collision's course.
Time does remain to defuse the loss of gain
Exploited to the point of crime
Yesterday's misuse of time.
After years of captivity, John weighed only 6 stone, but held his head high and worked to start a new
life from nothing. He held no hate for his captors.
Adversity Conquered!
Forever Endeavour - Extract and Full Text
© Betty Donaldson 2006-11
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