"I remember the glowing accounts of 1918 you used to tell us when we were children"
My father, J W Turner, sent this aerogram letter from Italy to his parents after VE Day.
He served for the whole war with the Royal Signals attached to the 6th Armoured Division, being sent overseas to Tunisia and Italy, where he ended up.
It’s amongst a bundle of letters I have inherited from him covering Tunisia and Italy, along with part of a journal covering the early part of his time in Italy. For some reason he stopped recording entries on 7 June 1944.
Transcript:
2362427 Cpl J.W. Turner
11th May 45
Dear Mum & Dad,
Well, its all over now and I’m glad. I had always hoped I might have been in England on V. Day. I remember the glowing accounts of 1918 you used to tell us when we were children, and hoped I would be able to see it for myself this time.
We heard it all on the radio, though, and it was inspiring to say the least of it. I especially enjoyed the broadcast from various towns & cities all over England. The church-bells sounded wonderful after the harsh clanking of Italian church bells.
The broadcast from Liverpool, was almost drowned by the chorus of ships sirens, and V’s in morse; I bet there was a chorus at Southampton too, how I wish I could have been there. We didn’t celebrate much here, the war was already over for us, and we had had our own V Day several days earlier.
We are expecting to move over the border into Austria within the next few days, although, as far as is known at present, our address will remain unaltered.
The weather here is simply scorching now, and we finish work at midday, like we used to in N. Africa. The afternoons we spend in sleep, usually; the siesta habit is very sensible in these hot countries, in fact it comes natural, being too hot to do anything but doze.
We had strawberries and cream again for dinner this evening, the 3rd day running. They cost 20 lire per kilo, just under 6d a pound! The corn is ripening too, and the haymaking is all finished. It seems the Italian Summer comes about 2 months earlier than at home.
We have had our dining table decorated with cut glass bowls of roses these last few days. They are cut early every morning by the farmers wife, who just can’t do enough for us. There’s no doubt these people are genuinely glad to see us, and we are indebted to them for hundreds of little kindnesses, the things that mean such a lot when you’re away from home. They are much kinder than the N. African French, who shunned us like poor relations.
I’ll write again as soon as we reach our new area, meanwhile, all the best, be seeing you soon.
Love,
Jack x
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