A letter home from the BEF

I have just started to read some letters that my grandfather wrote home to my grandmother during the war. I have had the stack quite a while but, incredible as it may seem to you, I have never read them before. The main reason for that was there having been up in the loft, buried away under tons of other stuff, as you do.

Having moved house in April, and so cleared the old loft, this time I made damn sure that I kept the letters out and accessible in the new study. So far I have still only read the one letter, the one below, but it was, quite simply, great, I should have done it sooner but, regardless of that regret, I now find myself at the start of what I hope will be a wonderful little “journey”.

This first is dated 12 May 1940, so at a time when it had all kicked off! Most of the letter is family stuff, normal stuff, but there are snippets in there which show the incredible optimism he/they felt at the time, the talk of “smashing him”…or was it bravado to keep nan’s spirits up? I can’t say. You’ll note too how happy he and his mates were that Winston was back.

It may, too, be the only letter he wrote during the Battle of France. I’ve tried to sort what there is into date order, and I don’t think there are any more from the fighting period - no surprise really, he might have been a bit busy!

I hope you enjoy it, if you do I’ll try to post more as I read them. If there’s anything you can’t quite read, or if you want me to transcribe the whole letter, please just ask, it’ll be a pleasure.

The redaction in this letter, by the way, was me, not the censors, it was something personal I want to keep that way., which I know you’ll all understand. Billy was my dad, he’d have been 9 at the time, and Francis was dad’s brother, my uncle Fran…he was 15 and followed his dad into the Royal Artillery just two years later.

 

Thanks for sharing but I think transcribing them will be the best way for us to read them.
Cheers.

 

No worries mate. I’ll try to do both so you can see the originals and also see what he wrote clearly. Bear with me, transcribing will take a while .

 

Here you go:

“DVR. W. Gatty
750930
368/92nd Field Regt. RA.
B.E.F.

12/5/40

My Dearest Elsie,

Glad to know you all ok as I am fine. We are all as brown as berries, as the weather is absolutely champion.

You say being out here has not done me any good, why I never felt better than I do now. If you and the kiddies were out here, I wouldn’t mind being out here at all, but as that is out of the question we have got to make the best of it, dear. As I expect you already know by the situation, leave has been stopped again and as far as I can see for good now till we have smashed him.

But, dear, if I do happen to get a leave any time I shall just have to surprise you as it’s no good trying to let you know. I think I told you in last letter that I had received all letters and parcels up to date. I’m glad you have been to the pictures again and with the Hirsts too. As you hadn’t mentioned them before I didn’t think you had seen them. I don’t object to you drinking beer as it will do you good, but (MY REDACTION).

You didn’t say whose birthday party it was, I presume it was at Mrs Hirst’s. Yes dear, keep the watch till I come home as it would not be advisable to send it. I don’t think I can send that photo yet as I can’t get an envelope big enough to take it, but I will try and send it as soon as possible. I shan’t be sending any woollens home as I have got them in my pack, but I have had to get rid of extra pants, vests, shirts and socks, as we were told to put all spare kit in kitbags and hand them in.

I’m glad that the post is still a penny halfpenny for you as that is all it should be, and as you do not have to write to anybody else it won’t affect you much. I see Mr Birdwell is still on the save as you say he is still using the same overalls. Well dear, Mr Carpenter has certainly given us a long spell, although as you know, he couldn’t take it away nor can he force you to pay the 2/6 weekly, although it’s better if you can manage it.

Our wireless that we had was only on hire, so when we shifted of course we had to leave it behind, so now we have none and are not likely to have any now, nor any pictures either.

I’m glad you are going to try for work, as that will help you lots but how will you manage for kiddies. So Charlie has gone has he and Notty has his turn to come. I bet all at Ashford will be glad to see pops (? Wobbler - not sure exactly of that word) and it will do her good too. Tell Billy that I have got a big pack of cigarette cards for him when I come home.

Well dear, my turn came for guard last Sunday, and now we have what we call a stick man, that means that the man picked for all round smartness gets let off guard and just has to get the guards’ supper. Well I got it and it’s considered a sort of honour.

Also one afternoon we had a game of rounders, you know where you have to hit the ball and try and complete a circle without being hit. Well, I got two rounders for our side, being drivers of course, and one ball I caught which put the other side out so, taken all round, I haven’t done so bad and you should be proud of your old man, especially as the running made me puff a bit and my legs ached for days afterwards which shows that I am not so young as I used to be.

You ought to have heard the boys cheer when we heard that Churchill had taken over control of the war, as we shall probably get a move on now and get this business finished.

Well dear, I think this is all for now as the mail going out will be the last for a time, so I don’t want to miss it, so don’t get worried if you have to wait for a while dear.

So cheerio for the present from your ever loving husband Wally xxxxxxxxxxxxx For the kiddies xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Remember me to Francis, Mum, and neighbours, and don’t forget that photo Love.

P.S. Dear, have just received letter dated May 8th, will answer it as soon as possible. Bye Bye dear xxx”

 

I’d never heard of a “stick man” before, that was new.

The wireless set he refers to I can only assume they had hired/rented in France, having to give it back when they moved out. Or maybe they just dumped it in a hurry! Just a guess, mind.

He’d not long turned 35 when he wrote the letter, not that old by today’s super fit standards, but clearly “not so young as he used to be”. Whether he was considered an old man by the rest of his Troop, I’ve no idea .

 

I thought I’d have a look to see where he probably sat and wrote the letter, so I checked the diary. The regiment was at a place called Hersin at that time (Hersin-Coupigny I believe it must be). His Battery was billeted in nearby Sains-en-Gohelle (that extra detail is in the DRAMA report), so likely there. It also appears it was the same day that the Regiment saw its first action - their AA Brens firing at an enemy aircraft, without success, clearly.

Notably, it was the same day that the Regiment was told it would be marching into Belgium, which they did five days later on 17 May, arriving at Nederhasselt.

 

I have now sorted the letters into date order and this is the first of those that I have. It is dated 2 November 1939, when the regiment was at Auchy, west of Orchies, which must, therefore, be Auchy-Les-Mines. They were there to man gun positions in the Nomain - Orchies Line in the 2 Div. sector of the front.

Wagon lines vehicles and personnel were in small farms north of Moncheaux, which is about 33km east of Auchy. Pardon my ignorance but, although he was a Driver, I do not know if that necessarily means he would have been one of the “personnel”.

Here is the actual letter and I have transcribed it below:









The letter transcribed, quote:

“Thursday 2/11/39

DVR W. GATTY
No. 750930
368/92nd Field Regt. R.A.
c/o Army Post Office

My Dearest Elsie,

Glad to know you are keeping well as at the present moment I have got a bit of a cough through getting wet I suppose. I’m glad to hear you got the holiday money and I know you can do with every penny of it, also the overall money.

You talk about getting letters once a fortnight, do you know it only takes 6 days for a letter to get here so there must be a delay at the base. When I asked for matches I forgot that you mustn’t send them but still we can now get them at the battery office. As regards to stuff, what I want mostly is socks as the ones I have got are full of holes.

Well Dear don’t you worry about my washing as I now manage quite alright. About that form you filled in, you can’t pay if you haven’t got it and they will have to wait for it. I have not heard from Aunt Beat yet, has she been to see you lately. How did you get on last Sunday? I bet the kiddies were as excited as you were. I only wish I had been there too. I hope the weather was alright for you.

Well dear I have some good news for you. I don’t want to raise your hopes too much but our leave starts on Dec. 17th. Only a few are going home at a time and nobody knows who will be in the first batch, so providing everything is still fairly quiet I should be home within the next few months. We don’t know how long the leave is yet, we shall know later on. I don’t mind telling you weeks will not go by quick enough.

I shall be glad when I get the pullover as it is bitter cold out here except when the sun comes out, then it is not so bad.

Well Dear I don’t think there is much more to say and I have now got to go on guard so will close with fondest love from your ever loving Husband Wally xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

for kiddies xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

PS. I should like some more envelopes and paper as this lot is spoilt through damp.”

Unquote.

 

By the way, while I think the letters are a wonderful indicator of ordinary life in the BEF and at home (well, I would wouldn’t I), I do realise these letters are not full of fighting/combat, so if you consider them a bit dull, then I’ve no problem desisting .

 

Keep 'em coming Martin, they are a pleasure to read through.

Kind regards, always,

Jim.

 

Thanks very much, Jim, very kind of you to say, will do. The content of each letter is as much a surprise to me as to you all, first time I’ve ever read them as you know. No idea who Aunt Beat was .

I just looked at his service record and there’s no mention of any leave for him until August 1940, although, as you can see here, there’s not much mention there of anything between 26/9/39 and 14/1/40!

 

Hmmm Martin. I wonder if that cough mentioned in your transcription in post #7 eventually caused the hospitalisation?

Coughs in those days always bring me back to the spectre of TB. A scourge of our times.

Kind regards, always,

Jim.

P.S. Hope it gained him a pullover or two at least!

 

I wondered that about the cough too, funnily enough. I don’t know why he was hospitalised, but perhaps the future letters will reveal more, and whether he got that highly prized Yuletide leave too (and more jumpers - Nan was a knitter, but weren’t they all then). Tempting to look ahead for sneak peeks now, but I rather enjoy the anticipation of each letter - for example, neither my brother nor I knew Nan liked beer, which he mentioned in that May letter.

Sadly, but perhaps not surprisingly given his situation, there are no letters from her to him in the pile - equally sadly his letters stop in 1942, I’d loved to have read about his time in Italy and NW Europe later in the war. I don’t believe for one second that he stopped writing to her after 1942, I just don’t know if any of those later letters still survive and, if so, with whom they now reside.

 

"neither my brother nor I knew Nan liked beer, which he mentioned in that May letter."

"Tastes good, looks good, and by golly it does you good!"

Kind regards, time for another, always,

Jim.

 

Mackeson!

 

My mother was put onto Mackeson Stout by the family Doctor before WW2 .She was considered to be too thin
Drank it for years, not to "put hairs on her chest" but to raise iron levels in the blood.
Mackeson Stout - Wikipedia

 

Martin thank you for posting they are very interesting please keep going

 

Cheers Clive.

 

As he wrote that it would “do her good”, I wondered if it was indeed Mackeson she’d supped and that it was that famous advertising slogan to which he was alluding - but it seems that did not first appear until the mid 1960s.

Given what you say about your mum, though, when you look at the advertising, it was clearly very much aimed at the ladies, not just the men and, yes, it was certainly claimed to be good for your health.

News | History Of Advertising Trust

A brief history of milk stout - The History Press

 

The next letter home, dated 9 November 1939. As always I have transcribed the letter below. The regiment and he would still have been in Auchy/Moncheaux at this time.

By the way, I have only just realised what the squiggles are on the final page of these letters - they are the signatures of the officers who had to read and censor them! How stupid am I, not realising that immediately lol.

Having checked the nominal roll of officers on strength for the relevant dates, this letter was censored and passed by Lieutenant (Acting Captain) P. C. B. Rowe, 368 Battery. The previous letter, dated 2/11/39, I cannot decipher the signature, but the envelope it was posted in was signed off by 2nd Lt W. P. C. Davis (368 Battery).

Finally, the very first letter I posted here, from 12 May ‘40, was passed by 368’s 2nd Lt R. A. Forster.











Here is the transcription, and I am sure you will note in one particular section a description of an entertainer that would not pass muster today. However, after some thought, I have left it in as, to me, it is the language and essence of its time and I do not want the letter and its history to be compromised in any way. The only things I will censor are those that I consider private to the family, as I mentioned at the outset. I hope you don’t mind. There are also, as ever, one or two words I cannot quite make out and have had a guess.

I now know too that “Pops”, also mentioned in that letter from May 1940, is his daughter Margaret, my late aunt. She was born in 1937 so it can only be her. Perhaps they called her Pops because she was a windy child

The card he talks about for Billy would doubtless have been a birthday card for my Dad, whose birthday was late October.

Quote:

“Thursday. 9/11/39

DVR W. GATTY
No. 750930
368/92nd Field Regt
c/o Army Post Office

My Dearest Elsie,

Sorry to hear you have got a cold but cheer up because I’m with you as I have got a cold and cough too. It’s due to the weather which is getting quite bad out here.

Glad to hear you enjoyed yourself at the Hoggs (? illegible). I would like to have sent Billy a card but you know how I am placed. And dear Pops will be 2 on the 10th, which is tomorrow, give her 2 big kisses for me won’t you.

Yes dear I got Aunt Beat’s parcel last Thursday and I have just sent a reply to her and Aunt Annie. Uncle Percy (? again, illegible) sent a box of 50 Players Weights and Percy sent some mint sweets and chewing gum. Believe me, they didn’t go far with the crowd of blokes I’ve got here, but we all share alike, which is as it should be.

Listen Dear I don’t want you to send more stuff than you can help as I know it’s hard for you. A parcel now and again is quite ok with me. About that … (? Illegible) you should not send any as it is my debt and they should wait for it. We have a driver here whose sister works at the Biti (? illegible) and he told me about the homes (? unclear).

It would be nice if I came home for Christmas won’t it dear. Don’t you think we could manage it at the Hoggs (? as before, unclear) if I were lucky enough to get home. Fancy you hearing from Rose, I expect she wants some more news from you.

Well dear I went to a show with a crowd of chaps given by some regiment. They were all chaps on the stage. Except a negro dancer they had and woman dancer it wasn’t too bad, but it costs us 5 Francs, which is roughly 7d. We also go to the pictures once a week to see French films, but they are not so good as they keep breaking and you can’t understand what they say.

Tonight several of us are going to another cinema to see some English films got up by the troops so I have got to hurry up and get ready as it is 4.30 and I have got to have some tea and get ready by 6.00.

So I think that is all for now Dear, so will close with Fondest Love from your ever loving husband Wally xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

For kiddies xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

PS. Your last letter only took 4 days to get here, quick work eh.”

Unquote.

 

This letter is dated 15 November 1939, they were still in the same place. The letter was censored/passed by Acting Lieutenant B. G. Bonallack.

This is my favourite letter so far, more detail about life in his outfit, in the BEF, and what I think is a disparaging remark about Gracie Fields (see my notes at the end of the transcription).

Obviously you had to be alert for pullover pinchers too!