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Undated, June 1944 - Treating the Wounded

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  Grace saved this press cutting, probably from the Nottingham Evening News, showing some of the soldiers being treated on Seely Ward in Nottingham General Hospital.  There is no date on the cutting but a Council notice on the back bears the date 12 June, 1944, so it is likely to be shortly after that date.  The wounded from the Normandy campaign are clearly being brought back to the UK and cascaded across the country where space has been made in hospitals to receive them. The nurse in the left-hand photo is the Ward Sister.  The nurse on the right is looking down and could, possibly, be Grace but I don't think it is. Can you imagine a nurse happily lighting a cigarette for you on a ward in hospital today? #1940snursinghistory   #1940snurse    #nursing1940s   #nursinghistory     #Nottingham1940s  
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Tuesday, 13 June, 1944 - Two Letters

2364226 Sergt. S. Bristow Headquarters,                                                                     161. 15 L of C Signals Cen Med Forces 13 June 44 My Very Own Darling, Just received your letter written on Invasion Day.   It was funny, you started your letter with exactly the same words as I did on mine to you.   Yes, it certainly was a momentous day, falling as it did on the 6 th . I knew you would be excited, Dear, for it brings the end of the war much closer.   Progress is a bit slow at the moment, but I think that it will speed up a bit once we get the better of the Jerries engaged in the immediate surroundings of ...
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Sunday, 11 June, 1944

2364226 Sergt. S. Bristow Headquarters,                                                                     160. 15 L of C Signals Cen Med Forces 11 June 44 My Very Own Darling, It’s Sunday once more & feeling very energetic this afternoon I am spending the time swimming.   Wish you were here to join in the fun!    It's a pleasant little cove I am writing in with a short stretch of white sand – the only piece for miles along this rocky coast - & consequently it is quite crowded.   Quite a few civilian girls & members of the women’s services amongst the people, too.   If only you were here things would be qui...
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Saturday, 10 & Sunday, 11 June, 1944

Nurses Home General Hospital                                                                            (137) Nottingham              My Very Own Darling, I thought that I would write you a sea letter as I have not written you one for some time.   I am afraid that my sea letters are never as long as yours and that this one will not be an exception as I have not much news for you. It is quite cold today so the “powers that be” condescended to let us have a fire, so here am I, sitting at the front of a blazing fire, writing to you and listening to Victor Silvester on the wirel...
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Thursday, 8 June, 1944 - Two Letters

2364226 Sergt. S. Bristow, Headquarters 15 L of C Signals                                                                  159. Cen Med Forces 8 Jun 44 My Very Own Darling, So you didn’t go to London after all for your week-end.   Perhaps it was as well as things turned out for I suppose the trains would be very busy with invasion traffic.   As you say in your letter of 3 June which arrived today, however, the rest at home would do you some good - & besides I should imagine your Mother and Father & Vera were pleased you called off your London trip.   How are they all at 56 by the way?    Well, I hope. And talking about heal...
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6 June, 1944: D-Day, and Letters from Stan and Grace

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  The Belfast Telegraph must have been an evening newspaper to be carrying news of the D-Day landings on 6 June, 1944.  At last, this was the opening of the Second Front which Stan and Grace, and many people across Europe, had longed for. Both Stan and Grace wrote letters on this day. Stan's Letter 2364226 Sergt. S. Bristow Headquarters 15 L of C Signals Cen Med Forces                                                                  158. 6 Jun 44 My Very Own Darling, What an exciting and memorable day our anniversary has been this month!   At last one of the days we have both been waiting for, along with thousands more, has dawned. I’ve bee...
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Victory in Rome - 5 June, 1944

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  The above cutting is from the Daily Mirror of 5 June, 1944.    On this day it was announced that American General Mark Clark's Fifth Army had routed the German Army from Rome.    This news was quickly superseded by the news the following day - 6 June, 1944.
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