The Goodlass Family's Memories of War

All of the contributor's brothers were in the army and the navy and her father was also at the sea.

Her father, Robert, started off as a thirteen-year-old, as a little boy, on the ship. He started in the First World War. When the Second World War started, he went in the Royal Navy. And then later on, in the Merchant Navy for Elder Dempster, the shipping company. The ship was the "Sea Dog". Then Robert Goodlass was in West Africa and he became a coal agent in West Africa. So, he went away every two years and then came back.

George Goodlass was in the Merchant Navy.

John Goodlass was a handsome man. He was in Nigeria. He was with the East Lancaster regiment.

Mary's brother, Robert Goodlass, was also a seaman. Although he was named Robert, he was always called Bob. He was torpedoed and he wrote about it. He was sergeant in the First Commando, Arakan Coast, Burma. His number was 386. He was in the 4th Troop.

When Mary was a little girl, there were two plaques about what he had done in their mother's flat- one from Montgomery and one from Mountbatten. He went missing for a while. Then their mother received two telegrams in the same afternoon, one to say that George has been torpedoed and "taken now to America" and another saying, "I'm wounded". Two of them arrived in the same afternoon and deeply affected their mother.

Bob was in Burma. They were the 'forgotten army'. At the end of the war, Bob was still there for three months. The family was excited about the war being over but he was still there fighting.

Greenback Road had a boating lake, and Mary once went there boating with a friend when Bob said he would come with them. They got in their boat and other people in theirs. Mary was astounded by the way Bob managed to shoot past all others because he had been a commando and knew rowing.

Bob married a woman much older than him. They were very happy but unfortunately, she died. He went to live in New Zealand after she died, because his brother George lived there in Wellington Lower Hutt. Bob went there first but then he moved to Okapi.

When Bob came out of the war, he suffered from post-traumatic stress. At the time, Mary was a little girl but when they crossed a road, he was the one who was terrified to cross. Their father, Robert, said, "All these lads that have come home are changed". Mary observes that he was a tough man.