Great Britain - Letter Excerpts
BELOW ARE EXCERPTS FROM A CIVILIAN'S CORRESPONDENCE TO A FRIEND IN AMERICA DURING WW2.
AN INTERESTING POINT OF VIEW TO SAY THE LEAST. I WISH I HAD MORE TO SHARE.
Jul. 16, 1939 - "I do hope peace may somehow be maintained. It is a mad world. Maybe when this ultra-nationalism
gets worked out we'll get back to that. Great Britain must see to it that the other continental countries get a
fair deal. As a matter of fact, Germany would have got back those colonies had it not been for the treatment
of the Jews. The coloured people of India & Africa are not dumb. They have bombarded our offices with petitions
and manifestoes."
"There is a fine book...which shows what we all believed, that the majority of the decent German people hate all
this persecution and propogranda. It'll come to an end some day."
Jan. 28, 1940 - "I won't write about the war except to say that it is a great shadow over our lives just now.
There is no use going back over what might have been done since 1919 - we are in for it now. This I will say,
we don't want reparations or an inch of territory. The only aim - a peaceful Europe and restoration of the
ravaged countries, Poland, etc."
Below is her first hand account of the end of the war in Europe and a look back at they way things were.
Jun. 27, 1945 - "We were all waving flags on Cease Fire Day. It seems almost incredible that the War in Europe
is over. Of course, the war in the East needs all our work. We hear planes flying over as much as ever. Now
they are taking out food and bringing back prisoners. Nearly 100,000, ours and Americans, back in Britain in
10 days. It's superb. They sometimes fly very low over London to let the men see it, after neary 4 years, and
it is like raids again. The noise is terrific and on Cease Fire day, the smaller planes flew over and did Joy Rolls
just for fun. We have had so much noise for the last four years. One can hardly realise even still that all is
quiet here. We had two days holiday. I went to town to see all the flags. There were services in every church.
From three to four all the bells rang and it was lovely. We have not much lighting still and shops close early
as there is not as yet any increase in rations. I walked around the streets and noitced one street which was
half bombed out and the remaining houses were covered with flags. What simple faith they have and how very little
some of them have to be thankful for, only their lives and the prospect of hard work and war restrictions for a
year or two longer. And of course the reports of the camps at Buchenwald and Dauchau had depressed every one.
We didn't know that was going on and couldn't have sopped it if we had. It is nice to go to sleep at night and
not worry about sirens (though lately I was sleeping through them). I find it hard even still to remember that I
can leave my ring on the dressing table and know it will still be there in the morning. For everything, for the
past year had to be packed away in case of having to make a quick getaway. It will take some time to re-adjust...
We won't let Germany off this time. We didn't know then, that the enemy we treated so generously would let us down.
On V-Day I saw some American soldiers and their girlfriends doing a snake dance and some of ours, in Piccadilly and
Regent St. Some of the Councils postponed their bonfires and celebrations till the war with Japan is over; and they
were very wise for with so many of our boys in Burma and the East, celebrations would only have been half-hearted.
They had speakers on the trees and we heard Mr. Churchill's speech and people sat in the grass in the parks and round
the Palace; where they usually don't go. The King and Queen came out on the balcony and everybody was happy and
laughing. I was lucky seeing Winston Churchill driving to the House of Commons in an open car. I was making my
way to the Abbey when the crowd surged and someone said "There's the old man himself!" I don't know how he got there
so quickly...but he always had the knack of being in two places at once, and I saw him quite close, waving and smiling.
We were sorry to remember we would never again hear President Roosevelt's quiet cultured voice on the radio. But he
had finished his work, and it is for all of you to carry on. ...I had volunteered to stay in Lonon for I really wasn't
afraid and it was better for the anxious people to leave. I went down for a weekend to visit Bournemouth and that very
week-end we had a raid there - the first they had had for months. We were just coming home from a cinema when bang,
bombs fell in the middle of the town and some fell in a park with fountains and people were splashed hundreds of yards
away. We were lucky. It seems queer not to turn the corner and have to look if your house was still there, especially
when the pavements began to be covered with broken glass as you got near. The shattering effect of some of those
bombs was terrific. Well, congratulations on the great work your Army has done and what they have achieved. We are
thankful. "
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