RE-UNION OF “DEAD,”
SON’S DRAMATIC HOMECOMING. AN UNLUCKY MISTAKE. For thirteen unlucky years William John Dewisbury (43), an ex-Serjvice man, was given up as dead by his parents, who live at Park Crescent Road, Hove. At the same time he also was under the impression that his father and mother were no longer living. No wonder there ,was a joyous reunion between the “dead” people when the son turned up unexpectedly at his home the other morning.
The story leading up to liis dramatic rejappeaiance begins in 1915, when the War Office reported to the father, Sergt.-Major F. W. Dewsbury, a former Lifeguard'sman, and one-time member of the guard of honour of King Edward VII., that his son was missing. In the belief that the boy had been killed in the retreat from Mons, the father rejoined the Army at the age of 54, and went out to France. Months and. years went by, and, as no news came, the olid! man definitely concluded that his boy was dead. At one o’clock the other morning there came a knock at the door of the house in Park Crescent Road, and Mr Dewsbury got out of bed to answer it. With a cheery “Hallo, dad, don’t be frightened ; it’s WillI” his long-lost son then strode into the passage. For some moments Mr Dewsbury was dumbfounded'. At last he gasped, “But I thought you. were dead.” “And I thought you were dead, too,” replied the son.. THE SON’S STORY. They were, still delightedly explaining to .each other how the strange misunderstanding had occurred when light crept through the curtains. The son declared : “Before the war I .was employed by the Anglo-Pehsian Oil Co. in South Persia. During .hostilities I was attached as interpreter and engineer to the expedition under General Gorringe, which was; going to relieve Townshend at Kut. I was in charge of a tractor and pontoon section, which we were taking across the desert. Progress was slow, and it was impossible to get the pontoons through the sand. The whole country was hostile. I 'could not keep up with the main column, and it woufld have been certain death at the hands of the Arabs to have been left behind:. In these circumstances I; was ordered to leave the tractor and pontoons and proceeded with the main column. Presumably the abandoned tractor was afterwards found, and the War Office presumed that I had be:en either killed or captured, and reported me mislsing. Following the relief of Kut I was released from the Army, : apd returned to the Anglo-Persion Oil Co. in Pejrsia. AH this time I had been waiting home, but, receiving no reply, I came to thq conclusion that my father was dead. I returned home in 1920, but could find no trace of any of my family. An old friend told me that my father had rejoined the Army and been killed in France. I returned to Persia in. November of the same year. Last week, while in London on a holiday, I heard that my father was alive, and the police accompanied me to his house.”
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Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5259, 2 April 1928, Page 4
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519RE-UNION OF “DEAD,” Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5259, 2 April 1928, Page 4
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