Blairgowrie man's amazing life immortalised

Mar 10 2010

FOR years Freddy Patterson was working on his extraordinary life story, reflecting on everything from his days as a kid guddling trout in the “Ratty Burn” to brutal jungle warfare with the Chindits in Burma and later enduring minus 50 degree temperatures in the Canadian wilderness.

Now, his widow Terry and far-flung family have published his book as a poignant tribute to a remarkable man who passed away two years ago at the age of 84.

Well-known local author Maurice Fleming encouraged the family to have it printed, convinced ex-Black Watch and Cameronians soldier Freddy’s memoir would make a valuable contribution to East Perthshire’s social history.

“Freddy wrote primarily for the family and for future generations,” explained Terry (83), of Ardblair Road, Blairgowrie.

“It was unfinished when he died but the family wanted to see it published after I spoke to Maurice. Freddy had put so much work into it, spending hours at the computer in the summerhouse.

“Freddy had an eventful life and a fine memory but he also had a diary that he had kept during the long voyage from Scotland to India via South Africa in 1943.

“It was only two inches by three and he wrote in indelible ink. Had it been found he might have been shot.

“Freddy didn’t like to talk about his time behind enemy lines in Burma but he ever forgot the friends he lost during the war.

“Of the 900 who left, only 90 returned. He said he simply couldn’t tell the whole story of what they endured.

“The family were very supportive of getting Freddy’s work into print. They were so proud of their father. It’s been well worth the effort”

Terry’s daughters Jackie and Norma have made their homes in Canada, while son Bryan now lives in New Zealand.

The early chapters of Freddy’s book ‘From Rattray and Beyond’ recall a world with no running water in the family home, kids clambering into a galvanised bath at the local washhouse once a week to get rid of the grime and a St Stephen’s school lunch of cold toast and cocoa.

He recounts the gas street lights of Rattray being lit every night and doused every morning by two “scaffies” and a pre-school run taking orders from neighbours for rabbits and salmon poached from the surrounding countryside by a dad whose mood swings were dictated by the drink.

“We were poor by any standards but I’d say we were happy enough mainly because we didn’t know any better,” wrote Freddy.

Inevitably, the berries played a major part in the household calendar, with the rest of the family making off down Ashgrove Road leaving young Freddy to care for three younger siblings, to prepare a flagon of tea for the pickers, “run wild” around Oakbank or fish with grandfather at Stormont Loch.

Freddy’s dad was working on the Tummel hydro scheme, cycling to and from Dunkeld in all weathers to catch the bus north.

“I would be up at 4am to light the carbide for the bike and cycle down to Marcus Fraser’s bakery in Balmoral Road to get rolls for my father’s piece,” penned Freddy, whose first job after leaving school in 1937 was as a message boy for Johnstones Stores in Allan Street, pocketing 10 shillings a week.

Freddy’s life was pock-marked by tragedies and even before losing a brother, Jim, in the North Africa campaign, and many friends in other theatres, he had mourned the loss of a 14-year-old pal coming to grief at Cargill’s Leap on the Ericht.

Later, in an Indian monsoon, Freddy met Keathbank Mill mechanic Duncan McKerchar and McDonald Crescent neighbour Bob Constable.

Tough training had begun for elite long range penetration unit the Chindits, the name taken from Chinthe, guardian of Burmese Pagodas.

The front cover of the book features a photo of Freddy in army uniform and an orange “Panic Map” of Burma distributed to Chindits under General Orde Wingate, in case they had to make their way back into India.

But one ominous final pep talk from Wingate concluded: “You are soon going into Burma to do what you have been trained for and if any of you come back out you haven’t done your job.”

Freddy’s graphic account of the appalling conditions, including leeches and malaria, and ferocious firefights endured by the Chindits concludes: “By now the reader will have realised we weren’t on a holiday trip.”

Dunc McKerchar died from exhaustion and typhus and Freddy reflected: “I think it must have been from about this time that I decided I’d be a loner. We had to work in pairs but every time I got attached to someone I no sooner lost him.”

*Copies of ‘From Rattray and Beyond’ published by Culross of Coupar Angus are available from Mrs Terry Patterson, 37 Ardblair Road, Blairgowrie PH10 6QA priced £8.50 including postage and packing.