1939 letter from grandfather

1939 letter from grandfather

this is a scan of page 3 of a letter written in 1939 by my maternal grandfather, to my dad, who was serving in the Royal Navy, somewhere unknown, right at the start of World War 2. Written Sunday, September 3rd 1939. This is a treasure to me.

for anyone interested, will copy the contents of this page here, incase some might not have been able to read the scanned image:

"But the worst has come upon us, Jack and we are faced with a situation none of us can foresee the consequences. Still we shall all do our duty, come what may, danger and suffering will come upon us all so we must make up our minds to face it, and give our absolute support to those who carry the heaviest burdens and face the greatest dangers. We shall have you constantly in our thoughts Jack, my boy, and be sure of this - Joan will be safe wth us and will be looked after by Mum, you may be sure. So my boy, if unhappily, like many others, you are to be deprived of Joan and the little ones company, we pray it may not be for long. So I will close, wherever you are Jack, may you be spared to us all, and so I will close with Mums, Norah's love, to which I join myself, So for the moment Goodnight Yours Dad.

(there's a PS below this) I added a few commas, to make for easier reading.

Created by: Alandrapal.

Tools Used: Epson Perfection 1250 scanner

Created on: August 2004

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Image Number: 2483

Comments:

Alandra from westcoast Canada on Jun 7, 2006 at 3:46 PM said:

Hi Orchidea, thankyou, am glad you saw it and enjoyed it. Am very happy to have this. Am sorry your grandfather didn't make it.

Orchidea from Eastern Canada on Jun 7, 2006 at 11:09 AM said:

Ciao Alandra I just happen to see this now and boy the memories and treasure that you have. I too had a grandfather serving in the first war but he never made it & was not able to write, but I can say that maybe it was mine that wrote those wonderful words, thanks for sharing.

Alandra from westcoast Canada on Oct 19, 2005 at 2:23 PM said:

glad you enjoyed the letter, Kathy, thankyou for the comments, as you understand, it is special to me.

Kathy on Oct 19, 2005 at 7:48 AM said:

Thank you so much for sharing this letter Alandra. You are very lucky to have such an important part of your family history. Being able to know and feel the worry and concern about the changes taking place in the world, and yet read the words of encouragement and hope. Very thought provoking!

Alandra from southwestern BC Canada on Aug 1, 2005 at 4:51 PM said:

more late thanks, Barry, Shreekant and Gary - Barry's comment from January! - now it's July, - anyway, happy you enjoyed "the letter". As you say, Gary, and Shreekant, these memories do inspire us, and the emotion can still be felt. my pleasure to share it.

Gary Minniss from Arizona on Jun 17, 2005 at 9:57 PM said:

Alandra! This is so interesting and so well written. I can feel the emotion in the letter all these many years later.

shreekant from mumbai on Jun 17, 2005 at 9:41 PM said:

A real treasure. It is memories like these which which inspire us in our lives. Thanks for sharing it.

Barry Wetherington from Birmingham Michigan US on Jan 9, 2005 at 11:36 PM said:

Hi Alandra, Barry here - of Dare-L genealogy. Understand the Robert DARE of Upottery, Devon and John DARE of Upottery are probably "yours" - had you known of them prior? They may trace back to the Wm Dare Mayor of Lyme Regis in 1400s I mentioned. I'll bet you learn more abt your dad Jack's WWII travels by Googling key words. Barry cbarrfly@gmail.com

alandra from canada on Oct 16, 2004 at 12:48 AM said:

Hi Dudley and Jas : ) Dudley, I will be happy if you can use this if you get back to teaching history. And Jas, yes I have some extra photocopies so will send it over to Auntie asap. my pleasure : ) so happy people enjoyed it.

Jas from Isle of Wight on Oct 14, 2004 at 5:09 AM said:

This must be the letter you told us about - am sure Mum would like a copy if you can manage it? x

dudthedawg from Louisiana on Oct 12, 2004 at 8:56 PM said:

This letter is of definite interest to me. I am glad you shared it. If I ever get back to teaching history, would you mind if I shared it.

Trudy from Oklahoma City on Sep 19, 2004 at 9:07 PM said:

What a lovely letter! Thank you for sharing it.

sheila from Illinois on Aug 31, 2004 at 10:51 PM said:

I loved reading this letter, Alandra.

It's a keepsake.

Lorraine from Ottawa, Ontario on Aug 25, 2004 at 11:47 PM said:

I can sure see why this letter is a treasure. Very lovely photos and nice

to see the dogs you speak of.

Alandra from British Columbia, Canada on Aug 25, 2004 at 3:14 PM said:

yes, Les, my Dad was on HMS Durban, but not sure about that date. Think I have an old pic of Dad's showing both the Durban and the Dauntless, will check. Also have a book of a "tour" the Durban made, 1931 - 1933 South American Division, which Dad gave me several yrs ago.

Les from NZ on Aug 24, 2004 at 5:55 PM said:

I was particularly interested in this one Alandra. Was Dad on HMS Durban I wonder. My old ship HMS Dauntless was at Gibraltar on that day and your dad may well haven been too. I was able to read it with the aid of PaintShop Pro and zooming in

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