Letters & Telegrams?

[kiwihalfpint]

Thanks for sharing, certainly bought tears to my eyes.     

My mother told me when her brother was torpeodoed and lost his life in WW2 a surviving crew member told them the news and they had no official notification.

From what I understand if the women in the street saw the telegram boy riding down/up the street they watched in silence until he got to the appropriate door.


KHP

[WelwynGC1]

See what you started David, we are all blubbing now!!

My Aunt tells me that she and her Mother arrived home early that September to find her Father, (who normally did not show his emotions) sitting in a chair crying, with the telegram in his hand.

I know l shall cry too when l see that telegram, awaiting a copy.

My Aunt was 17 or 18 and my Dad was only 13, when their older brother was lost without trace.

Steve, (Choked)

[Bonnie66]

You might like to read this, warning tissues are required,  I wrote it for my cousin who was killed in Sunderland DW110  (see our website www.freewebs.com/dw110)  they had a memorial service at the site last year when the last survivor Jim Gilchrist died ironically on the same date as the crash - some of the families I have found are going again in a couple of weeks time to visit the site, none of us knew till I found it and them where this memorial was.



Why does Nana cry?

As you come together on this special day,
My thoughts are with you from far way.

Thanks go to all for remembering the crew,
Who into this mountain in bad weather flew.

The Crew came from countrywide and over the Atlantic too
They were the ones Churchill called “those brave few”

They were from two two eight squadron, Coastal Command,
That kept us safe, as they flew over sea and land.

Some rest now in foreign fields, others in their homeland
But they will always be known as the crew of THE Sunder-land

Their families will always be grateful to one and all,
Who remember their men folk here on the Mountain in Donegal.

From my family came Flying Officer Vince Wareing,
He was dark and handsome and oh so caring.

His picture sat on the dresser, in a frame.
The family waited for him to come back, but he never came.

When the news came in forty four,
All there was, was a knock at the door.

Grandpa gasped and Nana cried,
All we knew was that Vince had died.

I never knew, where or how or when,
But I was only very little then.

Vince was young, just twenty eight,
Grandpa, Uncle, and Dad lost their best mate.

His family never got over the shock,
They never knew about the plaque in the rock

I often watched my Nan look to the sky,
And wondered, Why does my Nana cry?

Now the crew is finally complete,
Jim Gilchrist has taken the last seat.

The engines start up and all systems are go,
For the very last mission of DW one one oh

The radio crackles and a voice is heard, “DW110 calling Heavens Gate
Permission to land sir, sorry we’re late.”

Let us thank god that they lived, not that they died
For now I know, why my Nana cried.


They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
 From “Ode to the Fallen” by Laurence Binyon

Dedicated to the Crew of Sunderland DW110
and my Nana, Hannah Ann Kelly, Vince’s godmother.
Dyan Tucker
Paeroa New Zealand.

[WelwynGC1]

I'm sure there would have been a follow up letter from the air ministry. Telegram alone is not sufficient.

How right you are, and my hunch was positive too, telegram and letter now attached.
Sad that the letter is one day after my Uncle would have celebrated his 21st birthday.

Comments welcome.

[WelwynGC1]

And hopefully the telegram.

Steve

[sarahsean]

I just wanted to say this brought a lump to my throat.  I am only in my 30`s so have no experience of having a family member at war, my grandparents were civilians and luckily none of my family were lost. However my great grandfather was a mechanic during the first world war and we are lucky enough to have a postcard he sent to his family from France in 1915. He also survived.

Sorry to ramble but i just wanted to say how touched i was to see these deeply personal things here and i thank god for the sacrifices that were made on my behalf during the two world wars. Our servicemen are something to be proud of for the sacrifices they made and continue to make today to make the world a better place.
Sarah

[Gaille]

From what I understand if the women in the street saw the telegram boy riding down/up the street they watched in silence until he got to the appropriate door.


KHP

My nana told me something similar, she said they used to hold their breath willing him to just ride on down the street and onto another street ...............and that the children used to stop playing on the street as well.

She made me cry one day telling me when he stopped at a neighbours house the lady couldnt make herself open the telegram and the other women in the street had to take her indoors and open the telegram & read it to her cos she was hysterical.
She said she remembered they wanted to make her a hot sweet tea before they read it to her and they had to go & 'borrow' sugar from someones rations to make it for her. Made me think how much the women had to look after each other and how hard it must have been for all of them, cos obviously no-one knew what it would say.

Gaille

[WelwynGC1]

Thanks Sarah and Gaille for those responses, and once again to David Layne for posting his family document/s, he inspired me to share mine too.

Sixty-six years later they are no less moving though l can only guess what the family must have felt like at the time.
Certainly the recounted stories of the Telegram boy being in the street make it all so vivid for those who were around at the time (Alas not l).

Lets live in hope that one day the brave Bomber Boys will be remembered with a lasting memorial to the 55,000+ who gave their lives for our freedom and were summarily disregarded.