A Spitfire Pilot Remembers: My Father
John M Davis finds that ant-Semitism still exists, after the end of Hitler and his gang.
For the first time I had the opportunity to understand my father as a fellow adult. As I was living at home, we travelled to the office together by bus. The fare was pretty small. I am not sure if it was 6d or 2d.
He was a fairly heavy drinker and a big gambler. I did not realise how big until he died. He and my mother would go to the races fairly often. Kempton Park, Sandown and Hurst Park were all popular, and sometimes I accompanied them.
On my first visit I placed a small bet on an outsider and won over £40. This was an unfortunate win because I was convinced that I was a skilled gambler and became a regular gambler with accounts with a bookmaker and Tote Investors. It was some years later that I finally threw the habit.
My father was a generous man, yet in some respects he was mean. In early 1939 he had brought over the young daughter of the Jewish man who had been the company agent in Germany. She was about the same age as Victor, and a first daughter gave my mother pleasure. They provided her with a good education at school and for her career.
However my father never really took to her. A German, whether gentile or Jew, was not a person he could warm to. His view was that if Hitler had not persecuted the Jews, they would all have been Nazis.
So Illo, our new sister, could not have been a happy person. After the war she finally left home (or was pushed) and virtually broke off relations with the family for many years. Finally she met a cousin of ours and told her she would like to see me again. So we resumed contact, and Victor dealt with her tax return. However, once again she broke off relations, and in spite of regular efforts I have not heard from her for many years.
My father also worked hard to rescue a continental Jew who had been the company salesman throughout Europe. Dr. Goldenberg was his name. However Father was unsuccessful, and the man must have become one of the six million.
Other refugees he was reluctant to help, but he was always active in helping other charities. The Association of Jewish Ex Servicemen obtained his wholehearted support. He had been one of the leading founders when the Association was formed in the 1930s and was Hon Treasurer for a period. As a boy I always went along to watch the AJEX commemorative parade and service in the Horse Guards Parade.
This I found a frightening experience on a cold damp autumn afternoon. As the military band started up those suffering from shell shock would twitch their limbs very visibly. There were many in wheelchairs and a number who had lost one or more limbs. The legless MP, Major Brunel Cohen, always placed the poppy wreath at the Cenotaph. The injuries and losses from the 1914-18 War were so much worse than those from the 1939-45 War.
On one occasion when my father and I were returning home from work, the evening bus stopped outside Dunrobin Court on the Finchley Road. I remember the conductor calling out, “Dunrobin Court, Dunrobin Court. Where the Jews go when they have dun robbin’ the Englishmen.”
It was clear that anti-Semitism still existed, even after the end of Hitler and his gang. I used to go down to Hyde Park and elsewhere where the fascists would speak from their soapboxes. A sufficient number of anti-fascists would turn up so that these speakers did not last long.
