Ahead of Remembrance Sunday, listeners share their letters and messages from loved ones and relatives sent away to war. The letters span World War I to Afghanistan and are written from the heart.
You can listen to the letters here:
Thanks to everyone who contributed, we've included more letters below. If you have a letter you'd like to send us drop us an email.
]]> This letter was received by my father William Thornber,when he was in hospital in England after having been shot in Northern France in 1916.London, August 31st 1916
Dear Mr Thornber,
I am very sorry to inform you of the death of our dear son Fred, (your companion in the trenches, in France) on July 18th last, by the bursting of a shell whilst attending a wounded soldier.
We have only just found your address in his note book, which has been so kindly sent over to us, with other presonal effects, by his comrades of his platoon, or we would have written to you sooner. His death has been an awful blow to us, especially to his mother who has tendered and cared for him, as only a loving mother can, for her dear one, her only boy.We miss his cheerful letters to us, for he always made light of the many dangerous expeditions, that you & he were engaged in and he wrote to us and told us how much he missed you, after you were wounded and sent to England.
His mother and I were sorry to hear you had been seriously wounded but were glad to hear from him that you were getting on well and we hope, by now that you are convalescent and will soon be yourself again.
We have heard indirectly, that the 20th Battalion have suffered very severly since poor Fred's death in the wood.
Hoping you will excuse this unavoidable delay.
I remain
Yours sincerely,
J. Dittmer
Sent By Dr. Caroline Sheldrick
Colchester
Essex
Dear Sirs,
I do hope you will be able to feature some letters about the Irish who fell in the war. In particular the southern Irish who are not as well remembered as they perhaps should be.
This link describes the story of a Cork man who fell on the Somme and the letters sent to his wife following his death, by an English soldier who discovered his body. It is particularly poignant story. The text of the letter is there in full and there is also a pencil sketch of the dead soldier, drawn by his wife, which you are free to use with my permission as the author of the piece.
John McGuiggan
Good morning
Please find attached postcards from my father Norman France who was part of the expeditionary force; later rescued from Dunkirk only to find himself in Singapore as he states
'.... a throng of civilians and our troops were listening to the Governor of Singapore, who was perched on top of a lorry telling us that our Generals were having a conference with the Japanese General Staff as to terms of surrender, but urging the boys to go back to the front lines and fight on until we know our ultimate fate'
He was interned by the Japanese later at the infamous Changi jail and working on the Burma Railway but the last two paragraphs of his unpublished manuscript may give hope;
'For three and a half years of life akin to slavery we had dreamed of this day, each of us had built up hopes and dreamed of a happy future, this was a war to end war, for us that had suffered and those who gave the supreme sacrifice we pray that it will be.
But we face the future with a new heart, and to begin our life where we left off, amongst those we love and cherished friendships'
Regards
Michael France
From a few days after their marriage in 1942 until well into 1946 our parents (Eric & Joan Pearson) wrote to each other several times a week. My mother from England, where she continued to live with her parents in Surrey, commuting every day into the Stationery Office in London where she was a Fire Warden, and my father from Madagascar, Burma, India and the devastation of Belgium and Germany immediately after the war. They wrote hundreds of detailed, intimate letters, combining very loving paragraphs with their own interpretation of the profound events taking place, and a great deal about the detail of their lives, the memories of the few days they spent together after their wedding and their plans for the future.
Our father was with the 14th Army in Burma and sent many letters from there, of which the following is typical..
Letter No 201 July 18th 1944
"Well, darling, things have moved fast since I last wrote and as you probably know the Japs have pulled out fast in several areas though they are still hanging on in others. I've spent the last fortnight chasing them around and the people I was with killed quite a lot. It's been very tough going through thick jungle and up practically vertical hillsides - it has to be seen to be believed and I'll tell you it takes some doing to carry a pack all the time and not with much sleep. We march by night as much as by day. We waded through a few rivers up to our waists just to add a little variety, not that it was needed. Still, its quite fun when you are chasing the Japs and nice to bring in a few swords (I wouldn't like to be a Jap officer and carry them through the jungle). Though we cannot get any of them as they all have to be sent back through HQ. Just before we really started chasing them I went out with an infantry officer and a few of his men to have a look at a Jap position. When we were about 20 yards from it they suddenly opened up on three sides, so there was nothing for it but to beat it, we were only a small party. ...the Japs chased us for 900 yards until we were back in our perimeter"
On August 11th 1945 Eric wrote from India "If you note the date you may realise the whole world is now observing the Jap peace offer. I must confess I am rather surprised but I think Russia and the new atomic bomb have done the trick. All we know at the moment is that that they have made the peace offer with the proviso about their "son of heaven" . I shouldn't think that we would accept that but nevertheless I think we'll come to some sort of peace so there is cause for some measure of celebration though we mustn't get over-optimistic just yet. There are fears that the Japs here might never hear from Japan and go on fighting till "Kingdom come."
"Then on 17th August (No 300) "How is her loveliness? Well, I hope, and as happy as she can be under the circumstances. No doubt you're feeling very relieved and cheerful now the peace nears. I must say it was all rather a surprise to us and now it's come we don't quite know what to think of it.
It's all to the good and will save thousands of lives and thousands of prisoners will be released much sooner than anyone had dared to hope. Let's hope the "cease fire" (when it comes) will reach Japanese troops everywhere quickly, though I suspect there will be hundreds of Burmese who won't get it in less than a month".
"Don't expect repat. to be speeded up darling. There is every reason why it shouldn't be. Firstly we've got to rush out several divisions to occupy the countries the Japs now hold - secondly I shouldn't think any single ship will be made to take troops home until all the British prisoners that can be got hold of at first are sent home. If anything repat. will slow down at first. I think release may speed up considerably so you might find me in civvy clothes in the new year + I will have to embark on the all important business of homemaking."
Through early 1946 Eric writes from Germany; for example, March 10th 1946, "...I think it is the first time I have really spoken to Germans. A child's bread ration is 1 lb per week which is less than one slice per day. A company director is working here as a clerk and is apparently envious of a man who is washing pots and pans in the cookhouse because that man may occasionally get a good meal. Its all very perplexing really because so far I haven't found an unfriendly German. They don't complain about the British but they are on the verge of starvation.
We have over 1000 letters but are only just reading through them as they were packed away, presumably because of the very intimate nature of many of them. Our father is almost 90 and our mother died in 1997.
Angela Penrose
