Bill's dream song made real

"Ev'ry night as I lay on my pillow,
There's a picture of home comes to me,
Far away with an old weeping willow,
Is the place I keep longing to be."
So yearned a wounded Bill Birchall more than 60 years ago, while holed up in a hospital bed dreaming of his Wairarapa home half a world away.
The Carterton soldier had endured hell in the World War II campaign on Crete, where he saw his brother Vic killed before him during the battle's closing days.
While recovering from wounds in a Cairo hospital, he staved off homesickness by penning his melody "Dreams of Home" a song he sadly never lived to see printed or recorded.
Today, a decade after his death, his wife Lola and a handful of helpers have fulfilled that dream.
"He had written the song on a piece of paper and used to carry it around in his pocket," Mrs Birchall said.
"He always used to say: 'We've got to do something with these words'."
So earlier this year, Mrs Birchall approached local country music singer Charlie Jensen, who agreed to record it for her.
"He put it on a tape and sent it back.
"I thought it was great, but I wanted to see if I could get it done in sheet music."
She recruited Joyce Isakson, a fellow resident at Masterton's Masonic Retirement Village, who converted the tape into musical notes.
Another musician, Byron Knight, also recorded the song as a ballad.
"I had a lot of help, it was quite brilliant."
But she still wanted the music printed in a special booklet and asked her grandson in Sydney to design a cover featuring a photograph of Mr Birchall being treated by a nurse in Cairo.
"It's a lovely picture.
"My daughter first noticed it at the Waiouru Army Museum and we asked if we could use it."
She was showered with positive comments about the song after performing it to delighted residents at the village on Anzac Day this year.
"They said it was lovely and it was a pity that Bill couldn't be there for it."
So what would he think of his music finally gaining posterity?
"He was always singing great old songs, he had a great voice.
"And this, well he would just love it, I know."
n People wanting copies of the song on compact disc or in sheet music form should phone Mrs Birchall on 377-5873.