Christmas 1943

There was not much written about Christmas 1943, as it was spent on board ship en route from Italy to England.  However on 4th December John did write a little bit about how his family might try and retain some festive spirit over the season.  He also wrote in January of the immense amount of work that needed to be done by the unit between arriving in England and their next movement, which would be across to Normandy in June 1944. During this period he was stationed at Lynford Hall, Norfolk.  It seems that in the turmoil of war, Christmas 1943 was not marked by strong merry making.

John Broom (right) with his brother-in-law H.W. `Tommy' Tomkins of the East Surreys, a Dunkirk Veteran

I thought you would make your usual Xmas effort to spend a few days at home & am not, therefore, surprised to learn of your intention.  In a small measure, I suppose one is able to recapture some of the old festive spirit.  And who shall say that the effort is not worth it?  A few days ago I sent you a Xmas card, and though I do not expect it to take so long as last year’s to reach you, I quite expect it to arrive after the 25^th.  That being so, I wish to send you greetings in this letter card for a very happy time together.  This Xmas should be happier than for some years past though you will still miss your `gift from God’.

            I will now bid you a tender `Goodnight’ as the hour is far spent.  “Buona notte” as the Ities say.  You may, if you like, dream of me entirely surrounded by oranges & nuts.  So will that make your stomach gnaw?

January 1944

You will have been wondering where my caravan is resting.  This is the answer – I don’t know whether you are pleased or not.  I’m not very far off home – just some fifty or sixty miles - & may have the chance of popping home for a few hours at the end of the week.  I cannot spare more as most of the unit is on leave & I’m in charge of the office, & besides normal office work there is a hospital to man.

 

            I guess you had a shock when you received my last letter.  “Home is the sailor, home from the sea,  the huntsman home from the hill”.  The weather is most unkind & I’ve now got an outsize in colds.  I should like to rid myself of it before I see you.  My leave is fixed for 27^th Jan until 11^th Feb & as I wrote before, I hope to go on Hereford some time during the second week. I expect you will go to Colchester to see my official homecoming, but if you don’t I shall understand that your nerves would not  stand what may be happening in the area.  Actually, since my return, the nights have been very peaceful & I do but hope that you may always find similar conditions.  I leave everything to you in the matter of your personal arrangements & shall be content to secure your happiness.

 

            I suppose that Pansy has written to you of the boxes I sent along by ambulance the other day.  I had hoped that she would have been at home to receive them & at the same time find out my address.  But the boxes had to be left next door & the opportunity was lost.  You may think that I’m pulling a fast one but the truth is that I’m almost crazed with work.  I was working every minute of the last ten days on the ship & since I got off in Glasgow I have had very little sleep.  I first got to this address on the 6^th & could not tell you what the house looks like from the outside!  The Sergeant, four corporal clerks & one private desk are on leave & there are only a private clerk & myself left.  You can imagine what things we like with the natural turmoil of a unit arriving in a country with a hundred & one things to fix up.

 

            It is at least midnight – last night it was nearly two, but I managed to slip a short letter off - & I seem to be writing without thinking.  I have received many letters & parcels since I arrived, three of them today.  I haven’t had time to open them, but perhaps tomorrow I may be able to snatch a few minutes.  (I have my meals brought to me).

 

            I think that when I get my leave I shall spend a week looking at letters I haven’t been able to read partly or at all.  That will be like heaven.

 

            I paid out over four thousand pounds on my last pay parade.  Not a bad little sum for a small unit, eh?

 

            The strangest feeling I experienced was coming down south in the train.  To see English civilians was, without exaggeration, like taking a deep breath & plunging one’s head in icy water.  The rare wonder of it.  The feeling that one did not belong, that one was part of the desert, part of lovely Italy with common experiences wholly unknown & unconceived by others, made one feel like men of a different race.

 

            At first I had a job to keep to English – it’s such a bad form saying things people know nothing about – but I can now get along without making any heinous errors.

            Always your loving son

 

            John

            Xxx