 |
| The photo of my Mum and grandmother that my grandfather carried with him during WWII. |
Sharing my granduncle's letter to my grandmother with you this week gave me the opportunity to have another look at the letters my mother sent to my grandfather while he was overseas. She was five when he left for training at Camp Petawawa and about six when he went overseas but the postmark on these first two letters are not completely legible, so I can't say when they were written exactly. Mum remembers when she suffered a couple of childhood illnesses but she does not remember when she had the measles. Based on a letter written in 1944 that I'll share next week, I think that these two letters were written in 1943 but she guessed 1944 because that is when she was just learning to write. In either case, you can see that someone has made her ruled lines to write on and it looks almost like she was doing writing exercises for class.
Jan 17th
Dear Daddy,
Thank you for the comb, brush and mirror. Santa gave me a doll. Her name is Baby Bubbles. Mummy had a letter from Uncle Laurence. I wish those old measles would go away so I could go to school and ski on Saturdays. Good-bye for now, a big hug for you and some xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx.
June 13th
Dear Daddy,
Open Mummy's letter first. I was first in my years work all year. We have six poppies out. It's a nice sunshiney day out. Today I picked two pansies all alone without Mummy all for my room. I'm going to see Aunt Lucy on friday. Mummy's just fixing her old black skirt. you should see my little piano. I am going up to Aunt Ruth's for some ham today. yesterday Jackie came up to play with me. well I think I'd have a little time to spare in drawing pictures. But after that I'll have to go.
An apple a big red apple an apple tree
Goodby for now with LOVE from (drawing of pigtails)
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
and a great big HUGE HUG
Having these letters means the world to me, they show my mother learning to write, learning to write letters and of course, they only exist because of the war. They could only be better if Mum could have written her father every day and he could have saved every one!
Those had to be the cheeriest letters that your grandfather received during the war. I'm not surprised at all that he saved them. Who wouldn't have?
ReplyDeleteI love that he kept these letters and that you now have them. They are really priceless.
ReplyDelete