This letter is one of a series sent by my uncle, Thomas Spruce Roby, to his parents and sister in Prescot, Merseyside. He wrote regularly from March 1942 onwards when he was posted to Portsmouth from his home near Liverpool and began Royal Navy training for his Royal Navy Reserve (RNR) role in the Fleet Air Arm.
In April 1942 he was moved to Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) Arbroath with training sessions in Derby, then the RAF Training School in Bristol in July, then on to RNAS Yeovilton in August.
In July 1943 he was transferred to RNAS Maydown, Co. Londonderry and was able to make occasional and complicated visits home via Stranraer and Glasgow.
In early 1945 Lieutenant (A) T S Roby sailed with Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) forces (probably on the Stirling Castle) to Sydney, Australia where he remained until March 1946. The time spent in Australia made such an impression that 20 years later he returned with his family as emigrants.
My uncle’s letters give a real sense of life in wartime from the perspective of family rather than combat and have been treasured by 5 generations. The originals are now in the possession of my uncle’s great grandson who is 16 years old this year and lives in Australia.
In this special VE letter the perspective is joy at what VE means, tempered by a profound sense of life going on and a recognition of the distance between the region he had been posted to and the realities of war in Europe.
