I Did It My Way
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About this ebook
In the spirit of "Unbroken" and "The Long Walk," this is the story of Wally Hill: WWII allied soldier, adventurer, rebel, and patriot. At only seventeen, during Wally's first skirmish in France, he was captured by the Nazis and marched with a procession of prisoners on a 100-mile trek—eating and drinking only what they could find along the way. But capture, torture, and imprisonment did not dampen his convictions or will to survive.
He was determined to do it his way, no matter what chains held him down, so Wally made thirteen daring escape attempts while in German POW camps before finally making his long way home. From battling on the fields of France to hard labor in Nazi stalags—and losing his true love while prisoner only to find her again decades later—Wally met his fate as prisoner, spy, and escapee with undaunted courage and devoted allegiance to his God and country.
Wally's story exemplifies the grit and determination of his generation and his strong hold on hope. Though he recently passed away, finishing this book was his last great journey. He asked that it be titled after his favorite song and the message that grounded his life. Wally's story will long stay on your mind—the inspiring tale of a spirit that refused to be restrained and imprisoned.
Walter Edward Hill
Walter Edward Hill was born in 1922 in Gillingham, Kent, a mischievous young man who longed for adventure and the freedom of possibility. At seventeen and still eager to see the world, he lied about his age and joined the British Army. Wally's first skirmish in Europe began in France where he was captured by the Nazis. What followed were years of torture, imprisonment, and thirteen daring escape attempts. After Wally's long journey home, he went on to give twenty-seven years of military service: seven years in the British Army, then twenty years in the New Zealand Army. He married more than once and lost two wives to illness and death during his lifetime. But his heartache was lifted one day, when decades after losing his first love (while he was a POW), he found her again. Throughout his life, Wally valued his freedom, independence, and ability to define his own life through his choices. Though he survived work camps, Gestapo interrogation, prison, personal heartbreak, multiple heart surgeries, a tumor, and the loss of many loved ones during his long life, he always saw a reason for hope. Wally recently passed away--completing his work on this earth at age ninety-three on November 14, 2015--but finishing this book was his last great journey. He asked that it be titled after his favorite song and the message that grounded his life. Wally's story exemplifies the grit and determination of his generation and illuminates a spirit that refused to be restrained and imprisoned.
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I Did It My Way - Walter Edward Hill
I Did It My Way
The untold story of a dauntless POW’s escape from Hitler’s Germany
by
Walter Edward Hill
Copyright © 2015 by Walter Edward Hill. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any format or in any medium without the written permission of the author’s family/publisher:
Wayne Gregory
752 Reche Way
Fallbrook, CA, USA 92028
Editorial services provided by Eschler Editing. Cover design by Jason Robinson and Steven Novak. Ebook interior design and layout by Eugene Woodbury. Publishing services provided by ScrivenerBooks.com. Smashwords edition.
Note to Readers
This is Wally’s story, and since he was a born and bred Englishman, his story retains the British spellings of words like labour, plough, and metre. And because that cultural difference often brings with it words and acronyms that might be unfamiliar to the American reader, we have included a glossary at the end of the book with definitions of all asterisked (*) words we thought might be mysterious to you.
—Ed.
Acknowledgments
My gratitude to Karen Sturley, as my power of attorney, for her help and advice given sorting out my problems.
—W.E.H.
Foreword
Just a few short years before Hitler’s rise to power, no one would have guessed the fate of England—and the world—would soon rest in the hands of mere babes. Known as the Greatest Generation,
this is the story of one of those brave sons of England: Walter Edward Hill. He was born in 1922 in Gillingham, Kent, a mischievous young man who longed for adventure and the freedom of possibility; so at the tender age of fourteen he signed on with the Merchant Navy—without his father’s permission. The year was 1936.
He narrowly avoided disaster, though he didn’t know it, and so a few years later, at seventeen and still eager to see the world, he lied about his age and joined the British Army.
Wally’s first skirmish in Europe began on the outskirts of Albert on the Somme in France, and he ended up being captured by the Nazis. Wally marched with a procession of prisoners on a 100-mile trek, eating and drinking only what they could find along the way.
Wally made thirteen escape attempts while in POW camps. Once, Wally posed as a French civilian in Danzig (now Gdansk), hoping he wouldn’t have to speak the unfamiliar language. Another time, when he was travelling on military trains through the Ukraine after a daring escape, his escort left him to find out what train to take next. Two thieves tried to rob him of his supplies, but Wally’s escort returned and shot the assailants just in time. These dangerous close calls, including capture by the Gestapo, continued as he faced life in prison camps or fought to find a way out.
Another loss filled Wally’s thoughts while under guard. Before imprisonment, he had been courting a beautiful young lady named Monica Nash. She’d stood with his family to see him off to war. Wally had lost contact with her, not knowing she was also serving in the war, and she eventually married someone else after he was reported missing.
But Wally persevered. It took help from the Polish Underground, the invading Russian soldiers, and an American officer to finally end the cycle of escape and capture. The Polish Underground got Wally passage on a military train to Odessa, Ukraine, followed by a ship to Italy, then to Glasgow, Scotland.
Wally went on to give twenty-seven years of military service: seven years in the British Army then twenty years in the New Zealand Army. He married more than once and lost two wives to illness and death during his lifetime. But his heartache was lifted one day, when decades after losing his first love, he would find his beloved Monica again.
Throughout his life, Wally valued his freedom, independence, and ability to define his own life through his choices. Though he survived work camps, Gestapo interrogation, prison, personal heartbreak, multiple heart surgeries, a tumor, and the loss of many loved ones during his long life, he always saw a reason for hope. Wally’s story exemplifies the grit and determination of his generation. It was a distinct pleasure and privilege to work on this book.
This book is titled after Wally’s favorite song. Read on and discover how he did it his way—driven by a spirit that refused to be restrained and imprisoned.
—Constance M. Tucker
Editor
Part One: Before the War
Chapter One
The Early Years
I am Walter Edward Hill, born on 15 March, 1922 at Gillingham, Kent, England, and this is my story.
My father, Walter Hill, doted over me. He was kind and never hit me, although he would threaten me with his slipper and belt when I misbehaved, but that was as far as his threats went. Dad served in the Royal Navy during both World Wars and was often away from home for years at a time. He was a hard working man and we were always well provided for as a family.
My mother, Hilda Violet Thorneycroft, was a very pretty lady and always dressed very smartly. She loved to sing and dance and was always the life of a party, was kind and loving, and a very good cook. At the same time she could be quite a disciplinarian. When I was naughty she would try to cane me but could never catch me. She would play with me often, though, being I was an only child. When my father was away at sea my mother worked as a barmaid. Before she married my father she had worked for a doctor, and it was during this time that she had my older half-brother, Harold—something I wasn’t aware of until I met up with him after the war. Up till then I always thought he was my uncle.
My father spent so much time away from home, he and mother eventually divorced. My mother just left, and we had no idea where she went. I can remember feeling very hurt and disappointed over her action. My father later married, but in the meantime, (I was about eleven years old) I was under the Guardianship of some friends of the family, a Mr. and Mrs. Matthews. They owned the Little Brown Jug Hotel in Chatham, in a poorer neighborhood of the town.
The Matthewses had four sons, who all worked as truck drivers, and three girls who helped in the hotel. I was very friendly with Jessie and Bert. When I played wag
from school, Bert would take me along for rides with him. It was he who taught me to drive. One day I clipped a signpost, and he quickly urged me to drive on. So I guess he also taught me how to get out of a scrape pretty quickly, too.
School Days
I attended school at Gordon Road, Chatham from the age of five to fourteen. It was a very big school with over six-hundred pupils. My favourite subjects were history and geography, but I did not like mathematics. I enjoyed playing sport especially soccer and cricket. Our geography teacher was a rather elderly gentleman who would often fall asleep during our lessons, while our history teacher on the other hand was very strict. I cannot remember the names of my teachers.
When I was eleven years old I sat the Public School Scholarship exam and passed, which allowed me to attend a high school free of charge. I didn’t want to go to the high school because I thought it was too snobby, so I purposely didn’t show my mother my pass as I preferred to stay at Gordon Road with my friends. Later when my father came home from sea and found out about it from the principal he was furious!
It was about this time that I found an after-school job delivering and collecting the cash for repaired shoes, for a boot maker. This provided me with extra pocket money of two shillings and sixpence (half a crown) a week.
As a child I played with my good friend, Albert Young. He sang as a choir boy at the Royal Marine and Dockyard Church. One day he took me along with him and his church minister, Chaplain G.P.O. Hill invited me to join the choir. It consisted of twenty boys and twenty men, but there were no females. We spent time after school and practiced one evening every week for an hour. We sang mainly hymns, and I enjoyed singing. When singing in church we wore a red cassock-like coat, a white surplus, a white linen shirt, and a black bow tie.
To break the boredom, while the service was being held, Albert and I, with the help of a glass tube, shot rice at the choir boys on