My Father : Frank Ockenden. My father was born on October 16th 1906. The son of a Londoner whose family originated in Epsom, and had married a girl, Alice, from Birmingham, he was the oldest of the three children born to them. Frank was born in Islington – almost a Cockney. As a young boy he was a diligent scholar and a thoughtful boy too, although he doubtless had his mischievous moments. He excelled at football and according to those that knew him well, he would doubtless have played for England. Leaving school he went to work in an architects office where his application and thorough attention to detail, brought him the respect of those more advanced in their training than him. He soon won the respect and approval of his bosses who were the partners in the company. In his late teens however he gave it all up to answer the call to be a minister of the Methodist church. For this he studied at the Methodist College in Handsworth, Birmingham, and followed this with a period of probation in the Dales of North Yorkshire. His rural surroundings were in stark contrast to the life he had known as a city boy in London and here, perhaps for the first time, he met amongst his congregations, folks who really believed their Bible to be the Inspired Word of God. It was the beginning of a lengthy period of consternation, in which he was to come to examine in close scrutiny, those tenets of the Christian faith which others had taught him at Theological College. After a time, he went as a missionary to Southern Rhodesia, and was, under the rules of the Methodist Church, unable to marry until a period of seven years had elapsed from his ordination. So he went alone and it was not until 1935, that the love of his life, Ruby, a London girl was able to go there and marry him in July of that year. In 1940, Frank and Ruby took their two children Mary and Andrew, home to England. Frank felt that he was called to the duty of becoming a chaplain in the Army, but it was not until 1943 that he was accepted. Not long after a second son, John had been born whilst the family were living at Hadnall in Shropshire, Frank was called away to start his training for Army life.  For the next four years he would be away serving in various regiments of the 15th Scottish Division, and preparing for the time that Europe would be liberated, following the Normandy landings and subsequent battles and actions, that took place in North Western Europe, and eventually entering Germany. As with many men, the war had a profound effect on my father. He has seldom spoken of his experiences. His small treasures from that era, have remained in an old ammunition box, which has recently been passed to me for safe keeping. Of the experiences he has spoken about, only three come readily to mind.  Firstly, when Belgium was liberated, he had addressed a small crowd at the Mennin Gate in Brussels, when the Nazi flag was taken down and the Belgian flag was raised. He with one of the soldiers of his Platoon had stood there and sung the British National Anthem – "God save the King." He has also mentioned that he spoke to Lord Haw Haw – William Joyce – when he had been captured and having been shot in the backside by a British soldier, needed hospital treatment. Lastly he has spoken of the friendships he made with members of a church in the town of Rendsburg, in Germany where he was billeted for some months at the end of the war, and prior to returning home in1946. These have been sound and abiding friendships, which he and my mother and the good people of Rendsburg have cherished, in the 58 years since the War ended. After his retirement, he and my mother visited the folks there several times, and sometimes the friends visited them here in England. My father had also been present when Belsen was liberated, and has spoken of a conversation he had, when the Brigadier had returned from the first visit there, and said to him, "Now Padré, tell me where there are any Christians left in Germany." It is perhaps not generally known to this day, that the British government of the day had plans for the re-Christianisation of Germany after the war. My father also broadcast church services over the Nordwestdeutsche Rundfunk. Following a complete re-think of the Christian ethic whilst a missionary in Southern Rhodesia, he wrote a leaflet called ‘From Darkness To Light’, telling of his eventual conversion to a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. From then on he approached his work with evangelical zeal, which was to bring him much criticism, and sometimes open conflict with members of various congregations. He has never accommodated modernist views of Christianity, and to this day believes the Bible implicitly as the divinely inspired written word of God. Ultimately this brought him into dispute with the Methodist leaders of the day and eventually he resigned after 39 years. There was however, a solid core of sympathy with him in Methodism, and a special resolution was approved by the Methodist Conference to allow him the pension, which was not his right until he had served for 40 years. He then became a Pastor of a free evangelical church. Eventually he handed over to a younger man, but continued to play the piano for services and church meetings, until he was over 90 years old. Five years ago, Ruby my mother died, after 61 years of marriage. She and my father had been children living in the same street, Duncombe Road in North London, and the blow was a cruel one to my father. In truth he has never really recovered from the loss of his precious darling who had supported him through all the hardships that came his way during and sometimes because of his ministry. Last year because of increasing frailty because of his years, Dad, had to give up his own home and move to a nursing home for the aged, where he can be properly cared for. The fact that he has the company of people around him has lifted him from the depression he has suffered since Mum died. He becomes increasingly frail but still has all his faculties. Not once has he opted for the easy road of watering down his Christian beliefs. He was quite a strict disciplinarian when we were young, and he was and is a believer in corporal and capital punishment. As I go through the things in his old ammunition box I am amazed at the things that must have imprinted themselves on his mind. One of the most profoundly moving things is to see the letters written after the war by some of the soldiers with whom he was proud to serve, and who clearly regarded him first as a friend then as a padré, and lastly as an officer. During my own service for twelve years in the Royal Air Force, I met two RAF Padrés, who had served with Dad during the war as Padrés in the Army. They remembered him well as a fundamentalist. They may have had a point, but I would rather think that he had a better understanding of what it was like to be a real Christian, and in a world that believes anything these days, he believes in the basic tenets of the true gospel of the New Testament. If that means being a fundamentalist so be it, but our clear instruction to love our neighbour as ourselves, requires the childlike approach that Jesus taught us we must have. True belief must begin where absolute proof is absent. I may not hold exactly the same beliefs as my father or the next chap, because all our experiences and the way we translate them are different. For my father I have the greatest respect and admiration. For me he is a real man and the one for whom I have the greatest love. He is my hero. I am so proud he is my Dad. I am his oldest son Andrew. August 2014.

KT (1971), GCB (1947; KCB 1941; CB 1940), DSO (1917), MC, LLD, idc, psc
WWI: Mention in Despatches (17.2.1915, 1.1.1916, 4.1.1917, 15.5.1917, 18.12.1917, 30.5.1918, 4.12.1918, 6.1.1919, 5.6.1919); Military Cross (18.2.1915); Distinguished Service Order (1917) and Bar; 1914 Star; British War Medal; Victory Medal; Palestine: Mention in Despatches (15.9.1939); Palestine 1936-1939 Medal & Clasp; WWII: Companion of the Order of the Bath (1940); Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (4.3.1941); Mention in Despatches (1.4.1941, 27.1.1944, 22.3.1945); 1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; Legion of Honour, Commander, Croix de Guerre with palm; Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (1947); Knight of the Thistle (7.1971)

* Unemployed List (Release Registers 1945) 07.12.1947-06.01.1952