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This story was submitted to the Peoples War website by Karolina Kopiec from ��ѿ��ý GMR Action Desk on behalf of Muriel Smith and has been added to the site with her permission

War time came when I was 18 and finished when I was 22. During it, I lost lots of friends. My brother, 6 years older than me, was in the army. General Alexander’s army in Cassino where there was a big battle. While this battle was on, we received no word from my brother. We didn’t know whether he was still alive or not. My mother’s birthday came, but she wasn’t interested in it at all. We where wondering what could we buy her. My father was very good at calligraphy. Someone from Manchester Evening News (Manchester Chronicle as it was called in those days) wrote a poem called “Listen to me Mary”. I can’t remember the exact wording, but it was in Lancashire dialect, and it ended with the words:
“...When lad that they long for
Comes walking down the street!”
He wrote it on a beautiful picture and gave it to Mum on her birthday and she cried for a first time.
Later on, happily, we received the message that my brother was alive!

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