Yesterday!

This is the envelope of a letter I wrote in June 1945 to Herta Griesel, the daughter of a family with whom I was billeted in the town of Hengelo in the Netherlands for a few weeks during the latter phases of the war against Germany. The words 'ON ACTIVE SERVICE' allowed us to send letters free of postal charges. 

Herta died in 2011: her husband Wim in 2012.

It arrived this week, with others, accompanied by a letter of which this is an extract.

Thank you for your kind words on the death of our father.

He passed away quietly, just as he always hoped he would go.

As we had to clear up his house we found these letters you wrote to our mother about 65 years ago.

Our mother always kept them, as it appeared, she could never throw them away, not even when

they moved to other houses.

We were very touched by the warmth and sympathy of your letters.

This made us think that the best thing we could do is to send them back to you.

We hope that these letters will bring you fond memories of those days, long ago when you came to

our grandparents house as a young soldier.

The first page of my letter contained in the envelope above (B.L.A. stands for British Liberation Army) begins:

Poppa, Momma, Herta, Wim, and their children  in 1953

The hope, at the bottom of the page: "that you are getting more food than when we were there", relates to the day we arrived in Hengelo to find that many of the people had no food, except for a brave attempt by our particular hosts to present us with a 'cake' made from some form of unknown vegetation, together with 'ersatz coffee' ground from tulip bulbs or something similar. The result was an immediate exodus from all houses by Marines intent on garnering tins of M&V (meat & veg), white bread, and tea from our mobile kitchen.  For light, we lit cut-off lengths of gas cape tape stuck into the lids of round cigarette tins filled with petrol.  There was no health and safety then!

When we departed Hengelo a week or so later, we were asked to complete a form detailing what facilities our hosts had provided so that they could be re-imbursed. According to the completed forms, they had provided the most amazing list of heating, lighting, living provisions that would have graced an army supply depot.  

I never heard of anyone being court-martialed for falsifying information!

Alice Faye & Don Ameche

The cinema referred to in the second paragraph would have been showing American musicals of the forties. Films starring such as Don Ameche and Alice Faye who gave more entertainment with the help of a ribald Service-men's audience than they had ever intended.

"I never knew love could be like this", swooned Alice Faye being carried to the bedroom by Don Ameche.

"You wait 'til I get the other sock off", added a budding extra from the audience, to the great delight of all present.

The letter, third paragraph, talks of 'happy days' in Hengelo; a strange turn of phrase under the circumstances. But, all life is relative. Not much more than boys, many of us neither knew nor thought much about what awaited us, but we were able to provide some help and, for a short time, we became part of a lovely family, as did so many of our fellow Royal Marines.

For me, 68 years on seems like yesterday; the people so clear in the mind; those who lived and those who did not.