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Letters from the front

caggyken

master brummie
HI ALL
These are letters sent home from my uncle while on service in AFRICA and ITALY IN WORLD WAR 2. Although many miles away
he was still thinking of the folks back home. He never came back, he was killed in the battle for MONTI CASINO on DEC 8TH 1943.
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HI ALL
Some more pictures. He died once, but had 3 graves. The final one in Minturno war cemetry near Monti Casino, i went to visit it 5 years ogo.
The photo of me as an 7 year old was on him when he died. My dad had sent it to him ,he mentioned it in one of the letters.
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Ken,
Great photos, great letters ( so precious ) a great Uncle & my respect to you for your memory & honouring of him,
To visit him at rest is the best love of all,, well done M8
John
 
Hi Ken
I've just read your Uncle's letters, so moving, and he was thinking so much about his family and things at home. Many thanks for sharing them.
Phil
 
I found a lot of letters dad sent home in the war after my mom died, dating from 1939 to 45, some from Dunkirk, later Egypt with the 8th. army, Italy and Normandy to Germany, and 1942 diary from Egypt.
 
Ken, my dad was RA, at Monte Cassino , and Battipaglia, he was badley wounded at Salerno 1943, and spent some 11 mths in an American 5th army, military hospital at Naples, before re-joing his battery for the battle of the river Po. he was in Birmingham City Police, and lived in Vicarage Road, Handsworth, and was Discharged in may 1945, when a lad, we went regularly to the Polish Military Club. The 'Dom Polska' in Erdington, where he knew some of the Poles who had been at Monte cassino.
paul
 
Thanks for letting us read your letters Ken, they really are very precious. My dad was shot at Monte Cassino, but thankfully survived this and other wounds received at El Alamein and Sicily (Messina I think).

I remember as a child wondering why he had more belly buttons than anyone else, it wasn’t until I was much older that I found out they were actually bullet wounds in his side, back and abdomen.

He would tell me that American troops gave them ice cream and other treats which were part of their food rations when our soldiers never saw ice cream.

Dad was fortunate in that he spoke fluent Latin which was put to good use when they were in Sicily and Italy. He made good friends with some of the locals in Italy and kept in touch by letter after the war and when they could afford it he took my mum to meet them and to visit some of the war graves.

He didn’t have a good opinion of “Monty” in the way he treated his men. Dad told me of a day when they all had to stand to attention in the boiling hot sun waiting for Monty’s inspection and Monty didn’t even look at them. I won’t tell you what dad said then, but you can imagine!

Unfortunately dad recently passed away, but I know he would have been very interested to read your uncles letters home, he may even have remembered him.
 
hi ken..how wonderful to have those letters off your uncle and also to get back that photo of you that he carried with him..the third letter dated 22nd november 1943 could well have been his last one and serves as a reminder to all of us never to forget those who laid down their lives for this country...

thank you for sharing them with the forum..

lyn
 
Here is a card posted by one brother to another (my uncles) Both were serving originally in the Warwicks but for some unkown reason Jim joined the Leicester Regiment at the end of the 14/18 war. The name on the card, and which he used to join the Leicesters, is false (note the initial 'W' and he is addressed by his true christian name Jim) Why write in reverse and why he re-enlisted under a false name remains to this date a unknown in our family lore.

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Why write in reverse and why he re-enlisted under a false name remains to this date a unknown in our family lore.
Thanks for sharing your Uncle's post card, I used my laptop to reverse the writing and had a read, and can only think that the reverse writing was to stop nosey Postmen etc from reading it. With regard to enlisting under a false name, well that is a mystery.
 
HI ALL
Many thanks to you all in the interest in my post. These are Alberts medals wich are on show in our lounge.
He was a special man. He worked on the buses as a driver. Also he was a good footballer,he played in goal for W.M.T.
The story is that when it rained he would put up an umbrella. Charlton Athletic wanted him to have a trial for them,but
as he was the last of a brood of 7 still at home he turned them down. His 2 sisters and 3 sisters had all got married.
The other brother and the dad had died on the same day in 1919 from the flue that the troops had brought homa after
world war 1.They were burried in a mass grave at Yardley cemetry as so many had died the funeral people could not cope.
The bodies were took away in body bags on the back of horse and cart.
Albert was called up late at the age of 38. in august 1941. We were running out of men to call up by then.
His job and the fact he was looking after my nan ment he was defered.The end came on Dec 8th 1943
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Thank you Ken for sharing your teasured letters and photos. So sad your uncle was killed.
I have a letter from my Gt. uncle who died in WW1 in Egypt/Palestine - what touches me is the cheerfulness of the letters troops sent home no matter what they were going through. I suppose didn't want to worry their families.
Sheri
 
Ken. Thanks for sharing your precious memories. You are very lucky to have such marvellous momentos. A piece if history that is entirely yours for evermore.
 
HI ALL
I forgot about Alberts bigest passion, he was a mad bluenose, one of his young brothers was Fred Harris,and his sister married Cyril Trigg both
old Blues stalwarts.He was always on the tilton when work permited
KEN
 
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