Sunday, 29 August, 1943


This is another Cable & Wireless telegram using three pre-written phrases (see Friday, 23 July), in this case:
12  Many thanks for letter
159  Hope you will soon be better
35 Fondest love Darling
 
Although sent on 29 August, Grace will not receive this until the morning of 4 September (about six days), so clearly even these telegrams were not a tremendously quick way of communicating.  Note that the telegram had to be passed by the Censor (the oval-shaped stamp reads 'Passed by No. 62 Censor Telegraph Office).

I can't help thinking that, if you wanted to communicate in code, these telegrams would be an excellent way of doing it, with pre-arranged alternative meanings for all the messages!



 

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for your comment. I will post it on the page as soon as possible.

Popular posts from this blog

Monday, 20 September, 1943 - Letters from Stan by Air and by Sea

Firstly, Stan writes an air letter, which should arrive more quickly. 2364226                                                                                                  57. Sergt. S. Bristow Headquarters 15 L of C Signals Cen Med Forces 20 Sep 43              My Very Own Darling, Back at last & no less than seven letters waiting for me!   How grand it was to read again of your doings & feelings.   Reading your letters is the best tonic I know. ...
Read more

No News from Stan

 The last we heard from Stan was on 6 September, when he was on a ship going back to North Africa.  What is happening to Stan and why are there no letters from him? Stan's record of his war service notes that from 5 - 19 September he "Attended No. 2 MEOCS - Found not suitable".  This was an officer selection process which, as we have seen, involved him travelling to North Africa - away from the active front - taking part in the selection process and then travelling back.  During this time there are no letters from Stan, so presumably they were not allowed to write. Stan was not promoted to be an officer.  He always liked to tell an amusing story and said of this experience that as part of the process he had to see a psychiatrist, who went through a word association test with him.  Stan said that he knew that he had failed when the psychiatrist said "Fish" and Stan's immediate answer was "Chips"! At this time the Army was still highly class consciou...
Read more

Grace's Grandfather, John Walker

Image
 Over the last two or three weeks, Grace has been telling Stan about the deteriorating health of her Grandfather, John Walker.   John Walker was the father of Alice, Grace's mother.  He was born in 1864 in Cliffe Bridge, a small settlement just outside Barnsley, between Lundwood and Monk Bretton.  He started work as a miner, probably aged around 12, but in his early 20's he moved to work on the pit top, firstly as a labourer and later on the screens where coal was washed and sorted into size/grade.  By 1914 he had moved to work at Grimethorpe Colliery and became Screens Foreman, a job he held until his retirement. John married Elizabeth Ryder in August, 1887, and they had six children - Alice was their second child and the oldest of four girls. The photograph below was taken on Vera's 21st birthday on 4 July, 1936, in the back garden of 56 Brierley Road.  John is seated in the centre with his daughters Grace (left) and Alice and Hilda (right).  Jo...
Read more