BBC News, West of England
BBCA woman who found a “treasure trove” of letters her parents sent to each other during World War Two said it has been “remarkable” to read through them.
Anne Holland, from Devizes in Wiltshire, was able to follow four years of her parents’ lives thanks to thousands of letters detailing the early days of their relationship and the highs and lows they encountered while separating in the war.
Ms Holland’s father, Rex, was serving in Asia when the Japanese surrendered on 14 August 1945 while her mother, Margaret, was home in England raising their children.
“What’s really come through to me is the love, particularly from my father to my mother,” Ms Holland said.
The couple met at Sevenoaks Hospital in Kent in 1941 where Margaret was working as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse. Rex was one of her patients.
Ms Holland said Rex was “mad” about Margaret and the pair met up several times over the space of three months to go on dates to the “swankiest” places in London.
Months later, Rex sent Margaret a telegram asking her to marry him the following week on 14 August 1941.
But shortly after they exchanged vows, Rex was posted to India.
“They’d known each other such a short time and lo and behold, within a few months of all of that he was posted to India, leaving her pregnant with my brother and they didn’t meet then for nearly four years,” Ms Holland said.
An entry in her mother’s diary, written on 18 March 1942, read: “Rex gone”.
Supplied“Their only means of contact for four years was by letter,” said Ms Holland.
“In many ways, of course, that’s how they got to know each other.”
Some of the letters contained “full-blown arguments” between the couple but despite that each one ended with “I love you”, Ms Holland said.
Rex served in multiple Indian cities before he was stationed in the jungle in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.
Ms Holland said: “Somehow or other, he kept writing. She kept on writing. It’s truly remarkable.
“How Rex got time to do it, I do not know. Margaret – my mum – once she had a toddler in tow, how did she find the time? But they did,” she added.
Although the pair consistently communicated, Ms Holland thought her mother struggled with depression while dealing with their long distance relationship and the turmoil of the war.
But after Germany surrendered on 8 May 1945, Margaret joined the VE Day celebrations in London and sent Rex a “joyous” letter.
When Japan surrendered three months later on 15 August – a day after the couple’s fourth wedding anniversary – Rex sent Margaret a letter to tell her of his elation.
It read: ‘My adorable darling, today in these parts it is the office’s VJ Day.
‘We had the news confirmed last night and this morning, as I sat in my temporary office in the docks, all the ships’ sirens sounded simultaneously and bunting flew from every masthead. At last, it has really dawned: peace.”
Ms Holland said the VJ Day letter in particular made her “very emotional”.
The couple remained married for the rest of their lives.
Margaret died in 1989 and Rex died in 1993.
Ms Holland said she still has a bundle of unopened letters waiting to be read.
