| Bill was born in 1919 in the
small town of Atherton, Lancashire and was the son of a coal
miner. He was from a large family where the boys went to work
in the coal mines and the girls found employment in the cotton
mills. Bill worked in the pits from the age of fourteen but,
being high spirited he decided to join the army. (He loved
fires, explosives and women though not necessarily in that
order). When war broke out in 1939 this served to quench his
thirst for all three and he drank deeply from the pool.
As a boy he
attended Lee Street School, Atherton, and was
beaten every day with a stick by a headmaster
known as Daddy Evans. He later left Lee St and
attended Hesketh Fletcher School. This treatment
was to stand him in good stead in later years
when he was captured by the Japanese as it
enabled him to survive the constant beatings he
received in P.O.W. camps. To quote Bill "I
thought about me Mam's potatoe cakes all hot and
smothered in butter. Yer don't feel the pain when
yer thinking about yer Mam's cooking". When
he went to war the Lasses and Landlords went into
mourning whilst the local constabulary heaved a
sigh of relief.
The Lasses of Lancashire
they Wept.
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