MOTHER AND SON

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 105, 6 May 1933, Page 12

MOTHER AND SON

BEDSIDE RE UNION TWO HUNDRED-MILE DASH A son was reunited to his mother at a hospital bedside in Sheffield a few weeks ago after 23 years —and he is now only 28. Percy Dunger was working one morning at his job in Bournemouth—over 200 miles away—when a friend showed him a newspaper cutting. It contained an SOS sent out from the hospital where his mother was thought to be dying. - Mr. Dunger remembered dimly that his father had died when he was a baby, and that his mother, because of her poverty, had placed him in a home. He dropped his tools, caught a midday express for the north, and immediately on arriving at Sheffield at night he dashed to the hospital.

When Mr. Dunger was admitted to the ward where his mother lay, she did not recognise the man who was her son. until he bent close to her. Then she smiled, sighed and said faintly. “Thank God you have come, Percy. I am happier now.”

Although Mrs. Dunger lay critically ill when the SOS was broadcast, the hope of reunion with her lost son kept up her spirits. Doctors stated that there were now definite hopes that she would recover.

When Mr. Dunger left his mother’s bedside he went back to his old home and there saw the brother and sister whom he remembered only as children

“I am really glad that I have come back again and seen my mother,” ho said. “She was obviously glad to see me, and it* 1 have helped her in her illness it is an ample reward. I must go back to my work in Bournemouth, but I hope to stay here until I am assured of mother’s recovery, or that J cannot do any more for her.”