Widow in book tribute to hero

Mar 18 2008 by Gareth Rogers, South Wales Echo

A WAR hero and Commonwealth gymnast has been remembered in a book written by his wife.

The book, called A Very Special Kind of Man, tells the story of Arthur Cheney, a Royal Naval Reserve Lieutenant who competed in the Commonwealth Games before serving in World War II and then becoming a commander with HM Customs and Excise.

The great-grandfather died on May 9, 2005, at the age of 87 after a battle with Alzheimer’s.

Mr Cheney’s friend, Ivor Davis, who helped Dorothy Cheney pen the book, said: “The whole free world owes him and his comrades a great debt. A debt that can never be repaid.”

The book, published by Singlewell, tells how Mr Cheney, who was born in Cardiff on June 11, 1917, won a scholarship to the city’s nautical college, age 11, before leaving there with first- class and merit awards in a string of subjects.

During his time at the college, Mr Cheney showed a great flair for lifesaving and gymnastics.

The St Cadoc’s club gymnast won the Royal Lifesaving Society’s silver medal for merit in 1933 before being chosen to represent Great Britain at the 1938 Olympic Games, in Helsinki, Finland.

Prior to that, he had worked for the Merchant Navy for two years and at the Bonded Shipping Stores in Cardiff Docks before joining the Waterguard Service of HM Customs and Excise in Southampton.

In 1939, the outbreak of war saw Arthur join the Royal Navy at Chatham Barracks in Kent.

At 24, he was made a Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, operating from bases around the UK.

The following year, while on leave from the Navy, he met the love of his life Dorothy, on a sunny March afternoon in Roath Park.

Following their meeting they went to the City Hall ballroom the following evening, where they danced the night away before spending the rest of his two weeks of leave together.

A year later, after writing to his beloved Dorothy every day, Arthur and his troops went to Dieppe, on the northern coast of France, where he was to get his first experience of the war.

The book details the drama of the town’s main bridge being bombed and how Arthur guided his squad to safety, all bar one popular Scottish seaman, nicknamed Wee Jock, who died in the blast.

On October 23, 1943, Arthur made a surprise visit to his fiancee and family in Cardiff. A month later he married Dorothy and then spent several months in the UK.

The book also recounts Arthur’s part in the battle for Walcheren on November 3, 1944, before returning to Cardiff, where he worked as a preventative officer for HM Customs and Excise, before gaining a promotion and moving to Gravesend, Kent, with his wife and young children, Elaine, Paul and John.

Apart from his work, the grandfather of eight, enjoyed oil painting, piano lessons, playing bridge and doing work with the Red Cross, before suffering from Alzheimer’s – a disease he fought valiantly before succumbing to pneumonia shortly before his 88th birthday.

His wife Dorothy said the book had been written to honour her husband.

“A fitting tribute to a very modest war hero – a good man who never regarded his actions during hostility as anything more than should be expected of him for his country,” she said.

Copies of the book are available for £7.50 and all proceeds go to the Alzheimer’s Society. Call Dorothy on 01474 533959 for more information.

gareth.rogers@mediawales.co.uk