My father sent over 300 letters and postcards during his war service firstly in the middle east, Syria, Iraq, Palestine and subsequently in Italy and Austria. He was in the Royal Signals attached to Artillery. On his return from the war he married his stepsister, June Challis, my mother.
The two letters on the photo relate to the moments when firstly my father left England on a troopship heading out to the middle east and secondly when my father was on a troopship returning to England at the wars end.
The attached photo is of my father Dick Boon lying on his cot reading a magazine in a warehouse billet in Italy. His Thompson submachine gun leaning against the wall close at hand. By then a seasoned soldier. His first letter on departure was sent by a young inexperienced boy.
Along with letters were photographs detailing his journey from England out on a troopship to the eastern desert Syria, Palestine, Iraq and then onto a landing in Italy at Rimini. Then the hard slog up through Italy on the Adriatic coast . Gothic line and Po River Crossing. When the fighting ended he was then involved in moving the horses taken from the Cossack units fighting with the Germans to try and free Ukraine from Russian control over the Italian/Austrian Alps to use the horses to get agriculture going again. This was due to the many horses being taken from Austria to support the German war effort.
This letter was one he sent home via a friend going on leave who then posted it in London, a route to avoid the censor’s pen and to give a full explanation of his travels after he left home.
