Extraordinary LIVES
HAVE you lost a relative or friend in recent months whose life you’d like to celebrate? Our Friday column tells the stories of ordinary people who lived extraordinary lives. Email your 350-word tribute to: lives@ dailymail.co.uk or write to: Extraordinary Lives, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT. Please include a contact phone number.
I MET Denis in 1987 when he had a fruit and vegetable round in the East Riding villages. He’d produce lollipops like a magician for my two children. A larger than life character, he’d brighten up the day with his cheery banter and positive outlook on life. After leaving school at 15, Denis helped his father Wilfred run their farm. When he was called up for National Service with the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment and was told he would be sent to Korea, he had to look at a map to see where it was in the world. It was only after he received an unexpected, but much appreciated, letter of thanks from President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea in 2010, marking the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, that his friends found out about his bravery under fire. Using his scrapbook, I felt privileged that I was able to help Denis write his first-hand account of his active service. It was a proud moment for Denis when he gave copies of his memoirs to his family and friends as a Christmas present in 2019. He had told me in a matter-of-fact
way that winter temperatures in Korea fell as low as minus 40f and that if he didn’t drink his tea from the NAAFI straightaway, it would turn to ice. On night patrol, the lads took care to sleep close together in a circle for only two hours, taking turns to be on duty, or they would risk freezing to death. During the Third Battle of the Hook on May 28, 1953, Denis spent a long night trapped in a bunker with his mates. He kept everyone’s spirits up under fire and refused to give up. For his ‘superb gallantry in hand-to-hand fighting’, he was awarded the Military Medal by the Queen at an investiture at Buckingham Palace in 1954. After he had been demobbed in 1953, Denis went back to working on the farm before selling fruit and vegetables. He met Phyllis at a dance hall in Pocklington when he was on weekend leave from the Territorial Army. He would slip out of camp on his motorbike to meet Phyllis and then sneak back in later. No one ever knew, or if they did, they turned a blind eye. They had a long, happy marriage and had three children, Ian, Dawn and Kevin. Denis coped stoically when he was diagnosed with cancer in January and insisted he didn’t want any tears at his funeral. He was given a military send-off by three Korean War comrades, with his coffin draped in a Union Flag and his beret on top. The funeral was followed by celebratory drinks, just as he had wanted.
DENIS HUSBAND, born April 14, 1933; died June 17, 2021, aged 88.