Friday, April 24, 2009

Ernest Walter (Bill) Bonfield

B 17/06/1915 - Flicking through my late Grandma's photo album, discreetly placed at the back was this gorgeous photo of my late Grandpa - Bill - aka Ernest Walter Bonfield.

Bill was a cheeky Grandpa - most fun after a few drinks. Some legendary partying stories have been passed on through the generations and will always be remembered behind his "Bar".

But Bill's most memorable stories will be remembered by his war diary we found after he passed away - the story of a young man in the early days of Australia being involved with WW2, leaving a new bride at home, pregnant and not seeing his daughter (my mum) until she was 4 (makes me think how my daughter would have been at that age without her dad). I will always think of him at 11am on the 11th of November.

He was a lovely writer too, we also found his letter of proposal to my Grandma, together with a whole secret stash of letters and postcards.....

Who said we shouldn't hoard things - I think its ok to save some things for future generations to enjoy!!


(Bigbloggers - you aren't seeing things - this post transferred from Bigblog due to upcoming closure of account)

Anzac Day is another day to remember ... Bill was a navigator in the Middle East WW2

2 comments:

diane b said...

It is great reading through all the old letters and diaries. I have started rewriting my mums diary on my blog. A great post for ANZAC Day.
Does this mean you are coming here more often.Yippee.

wilbo43 said...

You should publish some of Bill's stories on the ABC web site they have a section for Australian stories, the best one's will bre aired on an ABC program.