D-Day Hero

Andy Corbley

張倩云編譯

In 1943， Royal Navy Bill Caldwell wrote a postcard to his uncle Fred， enclosed l it in anenvelope with a picture， and instructed the Royal Mail to "post early in the day".

77 years and 7 months later， and that same postcard has finally arrived at the Liverpooldoorstep of his family home to the shock and delight of his children.

The Royal Mail admitted they hadn't the faintest idea of why it took so long fordelivery2， but posited that perhaps it had been found and reposted by someone.

Caldwell's first message back from the military3 was simple， and typical of a man whodidn ' t ever send letters or postcards.

"Well I am in blue at last. I did not think it would be like this-you don't get much timefor yourself， do you？

"But I like it alright.

"I will write a letter to you all when I get half a chance so will you hold on a bit？ I have19 weeks here yet.

"Give my love to everyone. Love， Bill."

Caldwell would go on to man4 a minesweeper during the D-Day landings， travel all overthe Pacific， visit Japan， and carry prisoners of war back to Australia. His naval careerconcluded5 with four medals.

"It was the most surrea16 thing on a Friday night to suddenly read a postcard that Dadhad written 77 years ago when he was training to be a sailor in the Navy，" his daughter JoannaCreamer said.

Another of Caldwell' s daughters， 58-year-old Elizabeth， said， "It's a crazy story and it'shard to believe. My mum wrote letters and postcards but Dad never wrote. To actually see hishandwriting was beautiful."

"He had such an influence on us and our kids， and he was such a great role model，"Elizabeth added. "Mum wrote on his gravestone7 'A Liverpool gentleman' and that's what hewas.

1943年，（英國）皇家海軍的比爾·考德威爾給他的叔叔弗雷德寫了一張明信片，同一張照片一起裝在了一個信封里，并吩咐（英國）皇家郵政“盡早郵寄”。

77年零7個月后，這張明信片終于來到了位于利物浦的他家門口，讓他的孩子們感到震驚和高興。

英國皇家郵政承認，他們并不清楚為什么遞送花了這么長時間，但他們推測，可能是有人找到了它并重新寄出。

考德威爾從軍隊寄回的第一個消息很簡單，是典型的沒有寄過信或明信片的人的風格。

“我終于穿上藍色衣服了。我沒想到會是這樣的——我沒啥時間獨處，不是嗎？

“不過我還是挺喜歡的。

“我一有機會就會給你們寫封信，你們能再堅持一下嗎？我在這里待了19周了。

“把我的愛轉達給每個人。愛你的，比爾。”

考德威爾后來在諾曼底登陸期間駕駛掃雷艇，橫跨太平洋，到達日本，并將戰俘帶回澳大利亞。他在海軍生涯中共獲得四枚勛章。

他的女兒喬安娜·克里默說：“在一個星期五的晚上，突然看到一張父親在77年前進行海軍水手訓練時寫的明信片是最不可思議的事情。

考德威爾的另一位女兒，58歲的伊麗莎白說：“這是一個瘋狂的故事，真讓人難以置信。我母親寫過信和明信片，但父親從來沒有寫過。實際上他的筆跡真漂亮。”

“他對我們和我們的孩子們產生了巨大的影響，他是一個如此偉大的榜樣。”伊麗莎白補充說，“母親在他的墓碑上寫了‘一位利物浦紳士，他就是這樣的人。”

（英語原文選自：goodnewsnetwork.org）

[Notes]

1.enclose [?n?kl??z] v裝入

2.delivery[d??l?v?r?] n.遞送

3.military [?m?l?t?r?]n.軍隊

4.man[m?n]v操縱

5.conclude[k?n?klu?d] v作結論;結束

6.surreal[s??ri??l] adj，離奇的;不真實的

7. gravestone [?ɡre?v?st??n] n.墓碑

Discussion議一議：

1.What do you know about D-Dav？關于諾曼底登陸日你了解多少？

2.Do you want to send a postcard to vour future self？ And whv'？你想給未來的自己寄一張明

信片嗎？為什么？

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