Page 15 - Flaming Cauldron – Issue 54

ACC ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER

The Last Post

Manchester and started work in a bakery rations and cooking for an Artillery It was like a “scruffy rubbish tip” was
before receiving his call up papers which company, though troops were trans- Wally’s comments on the bunker area.
resulted in him enlisting into the Army iting through then moving on after Wally’s war ended on 22nd November
on 8th May 1941 in Liverpool. a few days. He seems to have been 1945 when he was demobbed. Back in
Stripped bare he was A1, at just 4 foot quite mobile with at least 3 other England he bought a Bakery business
7½ inches in old money and 82lbs with a cooks working together, feeding larger he worked in for many years. He sold
35½" chest. He was put into a room with groups of soldiers and steadily moving after his family had grown up. His love
all the ‘odd ones’ as he put it, but even- towards Caen. for music had never left him and he
tually trained as a cook with the Army Nearby was a farmhouse inhab- went on to hold the position of Musical

Catering Corps. He was issued with ited by Family Bessilier; Father Paul, Director for Belle Vue Entertainment
2 service chevrons on 28th April 1944. Mother Yvette, 2 small daughters and a in Manchester where he controlled no
Basic training was interesting, his son all found a friend in Wally. Before less than 5 bands and the famous circus
bayonet got stuck in the straw dummy he was moved north, he was adopted band.
and assistance had to be provided to as their Son. The relationship was so After Belle Vue closed for rede-
remove it. He always volunteered to lead strong that they were still corresponding velopment he formed the Wally
marches and training runs, that way he in 2005, though sadly now all are dead. Mackenzie Orchestra which ran until
could control the pace. Living away from Those times were very hard and Wally 2013. Not bad for a chap only 4 foot
home was good training for self-reliance helped the family where he could. The 7 inches. He never saw his height as
and it had made him pretty, ‘streetwise’. result was that he spoke French with a a disadvantage, only a challenge to be
Wrexham was where he trained to be a distinct Normandy accent! the best at whatever he tackled in life!
cook in 1943 and completed his trade Montgomery succeeded and Wally There is no doubt that the Corps has
courses. Becoming a trained cook, his ended up moving forward to a better lost a remarkable man and to him and
pay was increased by 3 pence a week. cookhouse situated outside Breda his ilk we owe a great debt of gratitude.
Aldershot and other camps followed in Holland. He was stationed with Editor: I am grateful to Ian Scott
with training and lectures, though not a Headquarters Company where he for penning these words and delivering
much cooking as he remembers. spent a long time working with a group a eulogy at Wally’s funeral. The Wally
In 1944 Wally found himself in a of fellow cooks. It was now the turn of MacKenzie award was named after him
field somewhere ‘down south’ when the a Dutch family and their children to and presented to outstanding Army cater-
news of the invasion reached them, 51 ‘adopt’ Wally, the family Van de Venn. ing students. As a D-Day veteran, Wally
days later they said he was needed. It Breda was then left behind as Wally was awarded the Legion d’honneur by the
was raining when they were moved to was rushed to Brussels to have a burst French government as a way of honouring
the docks and climbing over many ships appendix removed. These were not the and thanking those who fought and risked
decks, he finally came to his, a Tank days of keyhole surgery and he woke their lives to secure France’s liberation dur-
Transporter! As he went down through up to a large incision held together ing the Second World War.
the decks and the hatches were screwed with clips. The man in the next bed
down behind him. That was when he felt was a German soldier with half his face David C. Marriott
fear as he was quite claustrophobic and, shot away. He kindly helped Wally to June 1939 – August 2019
for the first time, felt homesick. drink and held him up so he could have Our friendship began the first weekend
It was still raining when the front a pee! of my transfer course from the 11th
ramp dropped and with great relief he He then spent time in Hamburg Hussars to the Army Catering Corps at
walked on to the beach at Normandy. where it snowed at lot and, surrounded St Omer Bks in Aldershot in 1969 and
His mate Frank held his Rifle for him as by Gerry cans of petrol, he and others we remained great friends from that
he jumped off the ramp (with the bayo- cooked for a Tank repair and service moment on…
net fixed it was taller than him) and they group. By now he was a fully mobile in Who was this wonderful guy and
marched for what seemed like forever. a 1.5ton truck which moved him and what was so special about him? Dave was a
Still raining, they were finally ordered his cooking equipment around. The man who wore a coat of many colours: He
to stop and took shelter under a hedge .303 rifle was now long gone and was was born in Stanway, Essex on the 31 June
and double bunked so they had ground replaced by a Stengun which was a much 1939, but spent most of his formative years
sheets beneath and above. Apparently better size for Wally. He found himself in and around the Bedford area. Where in
they had landed at Gold Beach and in Berlin in 1945 and managed to go married on the 29th December 1962 in
were marching towards Bayeux, though on an escorted trip, with a Sergeant in Bedford. Originally, he was a fully trained
he recalled that no one told you where charge, to where Hitler had died. He and competent Baker (in the old sense
you are or where you were going. recalled that the Russians were armed of the word when bread was bread). On
The following weeks were spent but the British soldiers had to leave attaining the age of 18 he was called up for
in locations outside Bayeux, drawing their weapons in the British Quarter. the mandatory 2 years National Service.

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