STREETLY,
STAFFORDSHIRE
MEMORIES
(1936 - 1961)
SUNDAY 1st AUGUST 1943
- THE BIRTHDAY
CARD
-
by Chris Myers
|
Sunday August 1st 1943.......
It's August 1st, 1943 and I'm
nearly seven-and-a-half. I thought
you'd like to see this birthday
card. It looks like a prewar one
to me. Or at least, the picture
is prewar.
Prewar was when people had
very pretty gardens with lots of
coloured flowers. They don't so
such now. These days, people
grow vegetables instead. They
don't have the time for a lot of
gardening and certainly not for
growing beautiful flowers. And
they need the food. They call it
Digging for Victory. That's what
Dad does, in our garden. Mum
helps him with hoeing and
weeding and things like that.
So there aren't many gardens
now like the one shown on the
card. Even rich people with huge
gardens, in places like Little
Aston Park, can't get a gardener
to help them, like they could
before. The younger men who used
to do that sort of work prewar
will be away somewhere now,
fighting. Or they are in the
facories doing war work. And so
most gardens - whether they are
huge or small or medium-sized
like ours - don't have a lot of
colour in them any more. Worse
still, many of them are pretty
scruffy and overgrown.
Especially those where the
husbands are away. There's only
so much that wives can do by
themselves.
We still have some of the
prewar flowers in our garden.
They're those which come up,
year after year. Dad says they
are called perennials. I wait
for them to come out. The peony,
the huge red poppies and the
Russell lupins, in every colour
under the sun. It's so exciting.
And some rambling roses with
pretty pink flowers which climb
up the rustic work. But the
proper rosebed has gone and
there are spuds and cabbages
there now. (Don't mind the
potatoes but I really hate the
cabbage which they make me eat).
I might tell you a bit more
about our garden some time, but
I don't know if you would be
interested. So I'll just show
you one picture. It was taken in
summer 1936, when I was a few
months old and the garden was
only about four-and-a-half.
Let's get back to the
birthday card. I think Mum
bought it from Puddepha's, on
the corner of Bridle Lane. It
has a bit of a squiggle in
pencil on the back of it which I
think says it cost tenpence.
It's probably Mr. Puddepha's
writing. We have all just signed
it, Dad, Mum, me and my sister
Sheila. (I think I should have
tried a bit harder to be neat).
It's a very special card
because, even though it doesn't
say so, it is for my brother,
Graham. It's for his 21st
birthday. That's August 26th.
And it's got to be posted very
soon because otherwise it won't
get to him in time. It's going
all the way to Sicily. We think
that's where he is. At least
it's what Dad tells us. But you
don't put that on the envelope.
What you write is a very funny
address which doesn't tell you
anything. I hope it gets to him
OK. It's such a pretty card,
isn't it? There's so much
colour, it takes your breath
away. As I look at it for the
last time before it goes into
the envelope I suddenly think:
"Ah, THAT'S why Mum chose it!"
It's almost a picture of our
pond, down the garden. Dad built
that one before I was born. It
hasn't got all those pretty
flowers around it but it's sort
of the same shape and size. I'll
show you some pictures of it.
The first one tells you the size
and shape.
And then this one with all
the colour.
So I really think that's why Mum
bought the birthday card. To
remind Graham of home. I hope he
likes it and will think about us
whenever he gets it. And not
feel sad.
I hope he has a nice birthday. I
don't suppose he'll get a
birthday cake or anything like
that but I hope that he will
enjoy the card. He'll know that
we are all thinking of him. I
wonder if he will throw it away
afterwards. Or keep it tucked
away in his kitbag, to look at
every now and again as he thinks
about us and home.
I hope he keeps it and brings
it back home with him. One day.
It's such a pretty card.
**********
POSTSCRIPT
This is what Graham was doing
around the time of his birthday,
in his own words and written
almost sixty years later.
The invasion of Sicily
started on July 10th, 1943. 78th
Division of the British 8th Army, to
which Graham belonged, remained
in Tunisia, held in reserve,
before soon being called forward
and making the crossing into
Sicily over a few days as
shipping became available.
.....Our unit, the
17 Field Regiment,
embarked on July 27th.
We crossed the
Mediterranean in craft
known as LSTs -
flat-bottomed landing
ships (tanks) - which
were quite sizable -
and landed the following
afternoon. By now the
enemy had retired from
the coast but continued
stubborn resistance a
few miles inland and the
Regiment was called to
provide fire support to
units of the 38th
(Irish) Brigade, our no.
10 Battery being
allocated to 6th
Battalion of the Royal
Inniskilling Fusiliers.
Once ashore, we made our
way northwards, slowly
at first because there
were virtually no
adequate roads in that
area. We reached and
captured the town of
Catenanuovo....... The
advance pressed on
towards Centuripe
("Cherry Ripe") about 10
miles distant. Here the
terrain became
increasingly difficult
and the town, perched as
it was at the very top
of a craggy ridge, only
fell after sustained and
concentrated artillery
fire and valiant work by
the infantry......
.....Our next
objectives, Adrano and
then Brontë, further
along the mountain road
which circled the Etna
foothills, proved almost
as difficult and similar
tactics were needed to
capture them. It was in
this area that I had my
first experience – at
the receiving end – of
the German Nebelwerfer,
a multi-barrelled rocket
mortar which was fired
with an unearthly
groaning and grinding
sound, followed by
screaming as the
projectiles, several of
the time, flew through
the air before exploding
on impact. It was
definitely unnerving,
especially so as the
ground into which we
tried to dig to provide
shelter comprised about
12 inches of soil before
coming to hard volcanic
rock. Nothing we had
could make any
impression on that –
pickaxe points bent
themselves into a
strange corkscrew shape
and shovels were useless
except for filling
sandbags with which we
had to provide whatever
protection we could.
Particularly heavy and
sustained shellfire was
encountered on August
9th, both from the new
rockets as well as from
more conventional
artillery, and the
Regiment sustained a
number of casualties
including the C.O. of
26/92 Battery who was
killed as well as a
fellow officer who had
only newly arrived from
England two days
before.....
....Brontë finally fell
and our advance
continued to Maletta. On
the morning of August
13th, near to Randazzo,
advance patrols of the
Royal Irish Fusiliers
made contact with US
troops advancing from
the West and the
Division was taken out
of action and placed in
reserve. We retired from
the Bronte area; other
units of both armies
made the final thrust
into Messina with all
resistance on the island
having ceased by August
17th. We were able to
enjoy a few days of rest
and relaxation and I
took the opportunity of
joining a party
ascending Mount Etna
itself. It was a
daunting climb and we
were happy to abandon
the original intention
of reaching the the
actual crater......
..... After a few days,
orders came through to
move northwards and I
found myself a member of
a recce party for the
preparation of gun
positions areas as we,
with every other
artillery unit, would be
required to put down a
barrage of fire to cover
the invasion of the
mainland now
imminent......The
designated Battery area
was pleasantly situated
around a small village
with both troops sited
in vineyards, whilst the
Command Post was to be
right outside the rear
entrance to someone's
house, dug into their
vegetable garden. Next
door was a village
church. We remained here
for several days during
which time the life of
the village seemed to go
on around us, much as
normal. Sometimes the
church bell would be
tolled, summoning the
people to Mass or
Benediction......
.....During the next few
days, the guns and their
personnel moved into the
area whilst ammunition
in large quantities was
delivered. All this time
we were working on
preparing for the
complex barrage which
was to precede the "big
show". We were informed
that D-Day was to be
September 3rd and, at
the stipulated time
during the early hours,
everything duly opened
up, causing panic
amongst our civilian
friends who had no idea
of the timing or the
intensity of the
artillery fire
plan......
.... The first landings
were made by other
formations of Eighth
Army...... We were told
that, following this
initial assault, there
was to be a second
seaborne invasion (which
proved to be Salerno)
and after that the boats
would be ready for us.
Meanwhile, as soon as
the invading troops had
passed beyond the range
of our supporting fire,
we moved out of our
friendly village, first
carefully filling in the
hole we had dug for our
command post in the
gentleman's garden. We
headed for the Furnari
area, not too distant
from where we had paused
on our way northwards.
Here we were to remain
for about a fortnight,
resting, eating freshly
gathered grapes by the
bucketful and preparing
for the next
adventure......... |
As the months, and then even
the years, moved on from the day
he came of age, it seems as
though this birthday card was
precious enough to my brother
for him to retain it, along with
just the first few letters that
he had received from home in
April 1943. We can only assume
that it travelled with him,
somehow or other and without
getting damaged or lost, from
wherever he was in Sicily at the
moment when he received it,
perhaps even on the day he tried
to climb Mount Etna; then across
the Straits of Messina into
Italy and after that the long, hard
slog all the way up the Italian
peninsula, for more than 18
months. From one ruined
village to another destroyed
town, through open countryside
and hills, lingering at Monte
Cassino, then through the middle of
Rome the day after its
liberation, ever northwards. I
didn't see it again until the
summer of 1945 when it returned
to our house on the Chester Road
in Streetly together with its
battle-hardened owner. And now here it is,
80 years later, and I have it in
my hand. It is a much travelled
birthday card.
A picture of a pretty garden
sent to him with the love of a
Streetly family in whose
thoughts he remained throughout
the months and years to come -
as he still does in mine and
those of others.
C.M. 1st August 2023
This
family and local history page is
hosted by
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(The Home Guard of Great Britain,
1940-1944)
Please see INDEX page for
general acknowledgements.
All
text and images are, unless
otherwise stated, © The Myers Family
2022-23
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INDEX
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INDEX
Streetly and Family Memories
1936-61
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L8Q
July 2023
© The Myers Family 2023
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