The Story of WALLY STOCKLEY

...There was no time to for us to try to find him as orders were given to move on. All we could hope for was that one of the drivers at the back of the column would see him and pick him up, but alas we had no such luck.

July 21st 1945
We were stationed in Berlin in the Olympic Stadium, our billets were the swimming pool dressing rooms. The Victory Parade took place along the Unterdenlinden, and the Charlottenburg Chausee, it was the 25 pounder
field guns of the 3rd RHA that fired the nineteen gun Salute in Berlin that day. It wasn’t until September
that we left Berlin to return to Elmshorn.

January 1946
I received a letter from a young girl who had reached the age of sweet sixteen in November 1945, she asked if she could write to me as a pen pal, I was more than happy to agree as I only received one letter from home
every so often, although I was always being accused of cradle snatching by my mates.

March 1946
I was granted nine days leave in England and it was while on leave that I decided to take a trip to Halifax to meet my young pen pal. When I arrived in Halifax by train, I found out which bus would take me to my
destination - a little place between Halifax and Queensbury. The area consisted of one shop, one pub, one chip shop and a school. When getting off the bus unsure of which direction to go in so I asked a young girl directly in front of me if she knew where the address that I had written down was. She looked at me and smiled before saying sorry she had no idea. I smiled back and thanked her anyway.

It took me a while but I eventually found the house that I was looking for. When I was invited in there was the young girl who I had asked for directions from standing by the table. This was Margaret my pen pal she had just wanted time to get out of her work clothes before we met for the first time, as she had been working in the Dean Clough Mill weaving carpets until the firm changed over to weaving webbing for the army. On my part it was Love at first sight, but on returning to my regiment after my leave I thought my letters from Margaret would stop. I thought that with me then being 20 years old and her being just 16 years old that she would think the age difference too much, I was so pleased when the letters arrived more often...