1
00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:02,400
Speaker 1: If you want to know what's happening on the local

2
00:00:02,440 --> 00:00:05,560
Speaker 1: political landscape, Katie Wolf has it covered on three sixty.

3
00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:09,040
Speaker 2: Every One is Listening Mixed one oh four point nine.

4
00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:13,280
Speaker 1: As we gear up, obviously to reflect on Anzac Day.

5
00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:16,720
Speaker 1: We got a phone call from a friend of the

6
00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:20,160
Speaker 1: show on Friday last week and had heard quite an

7
00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:25,320
Speaker 1: incredible story about one hundred and four year old letter

8
00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:29,000
Speaker 1: written by my next guest grandfather. Now you may have

9
00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:31,080
Speaker 1: seen him on the front page of the paper yesterday

10
00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:34,400
Speaker 1: as well. He is Territory and his name's Clive Bradford

11
00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:38,040
Speaker 1: and he joins me in the studio this morning. Good morning, Clive.

12
00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:39,639
Speaker 2: Morning Katie, Good morning listeners.

13
00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:42,040
Speaker 1: It's great to have you in the studio. Clive, and

14
00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:46,000
Speaker 1: I'm really fascinated by this story. Can you tell me

15
00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:47,840
Speaker 1: a little bit about your grandfather?

16
00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:50,919
Speaker 2: Firstly, I don't know a great deal. I didn't know

17
00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:57,560
Speaker 2: this it was there until I found out from my uncle,

18
00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:01,360
Speaker 2: who's just paied away on the end of January. He

19
00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:04,760
Speaker 2: did a lot of the family history as my mother

20
00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:08,440
Speaker 2: did as a family trees, but passed away many years ago.

21
00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:15,000
Speaker 2: But Uncle Nigel had dementia and he had got stuff

22
00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:17,759
Speaker 2: stashed everywhere and his daughter's trying to find it all.

23
00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:20,520
Speaker 2: But she found this one, yep, and passed it on

24
00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:26,240
Speaker 2: to me. And it's something that's it's unbelievable.

25
00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:30,080
Speaker 1: It is unbelievable. You've shown me a copy of this letter.

26
00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:32,880
Speaker 1: You've got it with you this morning. It's laminated. It

27
00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:36,080
Speaker 1: is one hundred and four years old.

28
00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:41,640
Speaker 2: He wrote it when he was in a trench and

29
00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:43,680
Speaker 2: it says in the parmi here when he was at

30
00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:48,120
Speaker 2: evening's dressed, you'd been fighting and killing all day long

31
00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:53,280
Speaker 2: and he was in amongst mud and there was probably

32
00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:56,440
Speaker 2: corpses and bodies around with bombs and bullets going off.

33
00:01:57,440 --> 00:02:01,720
Speaker 2: And he can stop and write there and write it

34
00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:04,800
Speaker 2: as neat as I could ever do.

35
00:02:05,080 --> 00:02:11,800
Speaker 1: Oh, it is unbelievable. It's beautifully written. The penmanship is amazing.

36
00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:15,360
Speaker 2: And it's on blank paper. Yeah, and no biro pencil.

37
00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:20,840
Speaker 2: It was a point with ink the ink bottle.

38
00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:24,640
Speaker 1: Yep. Now, are you happy to read this letter out

39
00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:25,079
Speaker 1: for us?

40
00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:26,880
Speaker 2: Have a go to go now.

41
00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:31,160
Speaker 1: It's titled an Ode to Gene and it's written in

42
00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:34,000
Speaker 1: a poetic style. It's written to his three month old

43
00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:34,679
Speaker 1: daughter Jean.

44
00:02:34,840 --> 00:02:37,200
Speaker 2: Isn't it Your mum was three months when he.

45
00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:41,000
Speaker 1: Went to war, So your mum, Oh, let's hear this letter.

46
00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:48,320
Speaker 2: Yes, an ode to Jeane, Sweet flare of youth in

47
00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:55,960
Speaker 2: childhood's grace, Fair rosy sunbeams shine upon your face. I

48
00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:00,280
Speaker 2: do not see your one hundred prattling ways. I pray

49
00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:04,880
Speaker 2: to see you soon in better peaceful days and a

50
00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:11,720
Speaker 2: hundred blessings. And daily you bestow to keep parential love

51
00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:16,760
Speaker 2: a kindling glow. You take the place of me, the

52
00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:21,440
Speaker 2: absent part, and help to cheer a mother's lonely heart.

53
00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:29,360
Speaker 2: I hear your evening prayers. They wafted upon the breeze.

54
00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:34,320
Speaker 2: You pray. You know not why, but Mother knows and sees.

55
00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:40,839
Speaker 2: And as I sit at evening's rest, I hear refrains

56
00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:45,960
Speaker 2: of sweet lullabye. I long to touch and soothe you.

57
00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:52,640
Speaker 2: If pageants you cry when I return a stranger, Aye

58
00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:58,640
Speaker 2: to you, to you who wept in swaddling when I said,

59
00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:03,040
Speaker 2: are to you too young to know that the meeting

60
00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:08,000
Speaker 2: of my kiss will mother's heavy heart and ending of

61
00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:16,800
Speaker 2: her bliss by nature's law? Just as the flower you've grown,

62
00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:23,039
Speaker 2: this great old world is yet to you unknown. Your

63
00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:28,480
Speaker 2: mother now your world, and all in all to soothe

64
00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:34,320
Speaker 2: and cherish you when you slip and fall. No thought

65
00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:39,080
Speaker 2: of war encumbers that young mind. But as the butterfly,

66
00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:45,280
Speaker 2: your joy in sunshine, fine, a living flower that daily

67
00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:52,400
Speaker 2: hourly grows, sweet fragrant in Love's garden with the joyous rose.

68
00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:58,360
Speaker 2: I see the little swallows in their nest, bide their

69
00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:03,640
Speaker 2: mother with her wings. Check that even tide. My thoughts

70
00:05:03,640 --> 00:05:08,800
Speaker 2: across that great blue sea cast in fancies. There I

71
00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:14,080
Speaker 2: rest with you and yours at last, Daddy. A little

72
00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:18,320
Speaker 2: ps and the bottom is I've tried to write as

73
00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:22,360
Speaker 2: plainly as patience permits for a few kisses.

74
00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:27,039
Speaker 1: Oh Clive, what's it like for you having that letter,

75
00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:30,640
Speaker 1: you know, written to your mum?

76
00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:35,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's breaking, and it's even worse when Grandpa didn't

77
00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:36,000
Speaker 2: come home.

78
00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:42,560
Speaker 1: Oh goodness, may Clive, it's it's hard to hear that.

79
00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:45,400
Speaker 1: That makes me feel really emotional thinking of your mom

80
00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:49,919
Speaker 1: than never having her dad come home. And you reading that,

81
00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:52,800
Speaker 1: How does that make you feel having that, you know,

82
00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:54,320
Speaker 1: having that letter and knowing.

83
00:05:54,080 --> 00:06:00,359
Speaker 2: That so proud? Yeah, so proud. And I in the

84
00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:03,560
Speaker 2: paper today. That's some blow. David. I think your name

85
00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:05,480
Speaker 2: was that you said it should be in a war memorial.

86
00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:09,320
Speaker 2: This is part of my body. This is in my

87
00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:13,000
Speaker 2: heart and if people want a copy and put it

88
00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:16,679
Speaker 2: on a wall, but I will keep the original because

89
00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:20,200
Speaker 2: it involves my family.

90
00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:24,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, mate, I know that you really want people to

91
00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:28,920
Speaker 1: you know, upon hearing this, and as we all head

92
00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:32,080
Speaker 1: toward Anzac Day, you want people to really reflect on

93
00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:36,080
Speaker 1: the sacrifices that not only that our soldiers have made

94
00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:39,719
Speaker 1: and continue to make, but the sacrifices of their families.

95
00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:42,520
Speaker 2: That's right, because we take this day, we take it

96
00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:48,640
Speaker 2: too much. For granted, we've got everything on hand, there's

97
00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:52,800
Speaker 2: nothing that we don't want, but greed is a big

98
00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:55,960
Speaker 2: part of our nature these days, and it's not good.

99
00:06:57,120 --> 00:07:02,320
Speaker 2: But we can sit down and reflect on the times

100
00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:06,320
Speaker 2: we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for people like

101
00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:11,080
Speaker 2: my grandfather and thousands of others. And it's great to

102
00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:14,360
Speaker 2: see aec coming up. The young one's allowed to march

103
00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:19,160
Speaker 2: and to help bring it back up to where it

104
00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:22,920
Speaker 2: should be. But apparently this year is not going to

105
00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:26,440
Speaker 2: be with the marching in some of the cities. But

106
00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:32,880
Speaker 2: if everybody can take ten minutes and shit outside and

107
00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:37,880
Speaker 2: listen to the serenity and think about how lucky we.

108
00:07:37,880 --> 00:07:41,480
Speaker 1: Are, you are one hundred percent spot on and Clive,

109
00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:44,120
Speaker 1: that is what we're hearing here on the text line

110
00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:46,600
Speaker 1: as well, I've got a message, Dear Katie. You guys

111
00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:49,840
Speaker 1: have me crying as well another one. What a moving leader.

112
00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:51,880
Speaker 1: It's brought tears to my eyes. And I know that

113
00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:55,680
Speaker 1: so many people listening this morning will feel exactly the

114
00:07:55,720 --> 00:07:57,960
Speaker 1: same as I did upon hearing what you have just

115
00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:02,320
Speaker 1: read out. And I think at the very least, at

116
00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:04,680
Speaker 1: least we get to embrace Anzac Day here in the

117
00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:07,560
Speaker 1: Northern Territory. I know not everybody's going to be in

118
00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:11,400
Speaker 1: the same situation around the nation, but I am pleased

119
00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:13,360
Speaker 1: that here in the territory we are still going to

120
00:08:13,400 --> 00:08:17,320
Speaker 1: be able to commemorate and remember people like your grandfather

121
00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:18,080
Speaker 1: as they should be.

122
00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:21,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, when both my parents were in the Second World War,

123
00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:27,840
Speaker 2: and the elder brother he went to Vietnam, and Mom

124
00:08:27,880 --> 00:08:30,880
Speaker 2: and Dad and Peter don't speak about the war or

125
00:08:30,880 --> 00:08:36,080
Speaker 2: the atrocities, which is fair enough because we probably don't

126
00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:39,320
Speaker 2: want to hear them. We just want to know that

127
00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:43,000
Speaker 2: they've come home, the ones that have come home, and

128
00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:46,200
Speaker 2: to enjoy the air we breathe and the freedom we've

129
00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:48,080
Speaker 2: got and not abuse it.

130
00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:52,120
Speaker 1: That's exactly right, Clive. I'm so grateful that you've come

131
00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:54,240
Speaker 1: in this morning and that you have shot, you've read

132
00:08:54,240 --> 00:08:56,480
Speaker 1: that letter out and you've shared it with all of

133
00:08:56,520 --> 00:08:59,120
Speaker 1: the Northern Territory. I think it's such an important thing

134
00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:01,480
Speaker 1: to do, and the message that you bring along with

135
00:09:01,520 --> 00:09:05,079
Speaker 1: it is even more important.

136
00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:08,200
Speaker 2: I could do. And as I said, if anybody wants

137
00:09:08,240 --> 00:09:09,880
Speaker 2: to be in contact with me and he wants to

138
00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:12,120
Speaker 2: have heard a copy of it had to put on

139
00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:16,680
Speaker 2: the memorial wall or whatever. I'm more than willing. Yeah,

140
00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:18,480
Speaker 2: but you won't get the original.

141
00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:21,559
Speaker 1: No, fair enough, mate, fair enough because it is from

142
00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:24,200
Speaker 1: your grandfather to your mum, and I can understand that

143
00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:28,120
Speaker 1: we will certainly if anybody out there listening does want

144
00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:29,680
Speaker 1: to get in contact with you, we'll be able to

145
00:09:29,679 --> 00:09:31,320
Speaker 1: pass those details on as well.

146
00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:32,120
Speaker 2: Clive.

147
00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:34,640
Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you so much for coming here.

148
00:09:34,760 --> 00:09:36,800
Speaker 2: Thank you.

149
00:09:36,120 --> 00:09:40,040
Speaker 1: Too, mate. It is just twenty seven minutes after eleven o'clock,

150
00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:41,720
Speaker 1: and I tell you what, We've got a lot of

151
00:09:41,760 --> 00:09:46,240
Speaker 1: messages people coming through. Just actually really grateful that Clive

152
00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:48,640
Speaker 1: has shared that with us, and he is a genuine

153
00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:50,200
Speaker 1: territory and Clive Bradford