I was born March 1, 1928 in Hampstead, North London. My mother was Daisy Betteridge, my father is unknown- but it's guessed by my Uncle Dennis to be Jack Smith. He ran to new Zealand when he found out I was on the way. I was fostered out to a nice, but unknown couple, for the first three years of life. I only have a couple of pictures, and I don’t know where they lived. They had a baby girl as well. I don’t know why he left their care. At age about 3 I went to live with Mrs Ilene Clements, Mr Alfred Clements and their four daughters- Joan, Audrey, Alfreda, and Peggy. They lived at 42 6th cross road, Twickenham, Middlesex. (now greater London). Peggy was my age, the other girls were quite a bit older. They were Mr Clements’ daughters from a previous marriage. I hardly ever saw mum, she took me out once or twice. I remember she took me to Hampton court, but I had already been there on my own. My mum always called herself Aunt Daisy. She worked in a big house and had me in a work house hospital. I remember seeing her maybe five times as a youngster. (I got to know her a bit better after I got called up in the Army.) Sometimes she would just come to the Clementses and just talk, but take me nowhere. When I was about 7, about 1935, Mrs Clements sent me to an all boys Roman Catholic boarding school in Aldershot. Didn’t know why I was sent away. I thought I had been naughty. Nuns ran the place as you would expect nuns to do. Aunt Daisy never came to see me. Come to find out that Mrs Clements was pregnant when I was sent away. When I returned, the new baby was a few months old. The baby’s name was john.