Sent by:Alexander Henderson
Sent from:Gibraltar
Date of letter:13 May 1945
"Towards the end of the evening when the free beer had been drunk, the crowd got a bit riotous and pulled the tents down, overturned the tables and broke all the glasses and bottles"
This letter is from a shoe box full of letters that my dad wrote to his parents and his brothers when he was in the Royal Navy during WW2.
The letters passed to me when my mum died.
This letter is sent to my Gran (Doris) and Uncles as my Granddad was away at the time. It describes how my Dad and fellow servicemen celebrated V.E. day in Gibraltar.
The additional photo shows my dad in uniform on leave together with my uncles Ian and David (toddler).
Transcript:
Dear Mummy, Ian & David,
It is a very hot and still day and many of the blokes in the hut, some new arrivals, are feeling listless and sticky. I have just had a wash and feel quite fresh and cool.
Most of us are getting brown, the bloke that sleeps above me is nearly black except for the small white patch that was covered by his bathing trunks.
If people enjoy themselves by pulling tents down and breaking bottles and glasses most people must have had a jolly good time on VE Day. A fair ground ground had been organised on the Alameda parade ground. There were roll your penny stalls, try your strength stands and darts and hoopla stalls and the main attraction marquee with a notice on the door "Everything free today". There were 8000 pints of beer, sandwiches, tea & cigarettes. I won ninety cigarettes and a packet of biscuits on a roll your penny stall. Towards the end of the evening when the free beer had been drunk, the crowd got a bit riotous and pulled the tents down, overturned the tables and broke all the glasses and bottles. It was a pretty disgraceful ending but I suppose they asked for it dishing out free beer. Most of the bars in the town had free beer that night as well. Griff and I celebrated on a great plate of mashed potatoes and two eggs. We were lucky to get it as most of the shops were closed. I had two afternoons off - Tue and Wednesday.
Did you have a good celebration at farm, according to Daddies last letter he would be home for them. How did the bonfire go off? I expect David would be excited. We had a big fireworks display from the Detatched Mole.
I have bought a new strap for my watch it is four stranded and woven, it looks very tiddly.
A bloke has just brought in a block of German chocolate - I had a piece - it was almost tasteless, something like sawdust with a hint of vanilla flavour.
With much love from
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