Re: More of my uncle Vivian's adventures.

Readers may be wondering what the Irish connection was. Well ,Vivian's mother was named Dymphna, after St Dymphna

Dymphna was born in Ireland during the 7th century. Dymphna's father Damon, a petty king of Oriel, was pagan, but her mother was a devout Christian. When Dymphna was 14 years old, her mother died. Damon had loved his wife deeply, and in the aftermath of her death his mental health sharply deteriorated. When at length he decided to remarry, Damon sought to find a woman who resembled his deceased wife. When no such woman could be found, Damon began to desire his daughter, because of the strong resemblance she bore to her mother. When Dymphna learned of her father's intentions she fled his court along with her confessor Father Gerebernus and two trusted servants. Together they sailed towards the continent, eventually landing in Belgium, where they took refuge in the town of Gheel.
One tradition states that once settled in Gheel, St. Dymphna built a hospice for the poor and sick of the region. Ironically, however, it was through the use of her wealth that her father would eventually ascertain her whereabouts, as some of the coins used enabled her father to trace them to Belgium Damon sent his agents to pursue his daughter and her companions. When their hiding place was discovered, Damon travelled to Gheel to recover his daughter. Damon ordered his soldiers to kill Father Gerebernus and tried to force Dymphna to return with him to Ireland, but she resisted. Furious, Damon drew his sword and struck off his daughter's head. She was 15 years old when she died.


A tragic tale indeed but VIvians mother was a great beauty as was her namesake.

Re: More of my uncle Vivian's adventures.

Re: More of my uncle Vivian's adventures.

What an interesting story Robert, never knew that about St. Dymphna, aint history fascinating.

Re: More of my uncle Vivian's adventures.

Jem, we had a very charming & elegant woman in our church congregation a few years back, coincidentally always dressed well , complete with purple & red, like the character described in Jenny Josephs poem.
Her name was Dymphna. To look at, she was a dead spit for Margaret Mee , the eccentric lady who spent years up the Amazon river looking for the legendary "moon flower". This plant only flowered very rarely and only blossomed at night.

In time she found the plant & painted it in watercolours.

A sad end to this true story

Soon after she retired she came home, within weeks she was knocked down by a number 9 bus & perished.

Re: More of my uncle Vivian's adventures.

Uncle Vivian was a kind gentleman & was uber polite & caring with all those he came across when he was out & about. A good friend to Phil Garlicke, mentioned elsewhere, the shellshocked war hero now existing on the streets, unable to forget the horrors he’d lived through in his army days.

Vivian was mentioned in dispatches often, some kindly , others not. Being a born leader he was prone to take ridiculously dangerous actions in the field. One manouvre involved ordering his men to run backwards towards he Hun. Confused, the Aryans fled.

Perhaps the highlight of his WW2 career was the day he was circling the skies in his Spitfire, awaiting the return roll of a pesky Messerschmitt. Here it comes, he muttered. Oh drat I’ve run out of fuel and bullets. Don’t panic, don’t panic he chanted to himself, shortly noting the Jerry was just circling under him.

“pig dog” the other pilot shouted, “Your Queen is useless”
That was going too far . Vivian waited until the oppo passed under him once more. He seized the moment to spit out his baccy , scoring a direct hit into Fritz’s eye, who lost control & crashed the plane. The anger in him to hear the Queen insulted was enough to produce tears. Uncle was very much a Royalist
The Queen useless? He pondered on it.
“Well if she is useless she does it very well”

More later.

Re: More of my uncle Vivian's adventures.

"One manouvre involved ordering his men to run backwards towards he Hun. Confused, the Aryans fled"
Nice one Robert, a very cunning plan of Vivian's, he knew that Johan ween was commanding the Germans at that time, (doing a bit of moonlighting from Hollywood) and he would never shoot anyone in the back, good thinking Vivian, bravo!
I can't speak German but I remember listening to a radio broadcast back in the 60's and heard the words "Mick Jagger und sa Rolling Stones, I was just about able to figure that out, they played 'Satisfaction' by the way.