These letters were treasured memories of my father Frank’s referred to as Frankie in the letters. They were sent to him by his father Frank Pilsworth who was serving with the 3rd Kings Own Hussars. He was a happy go lucky character. Small in stature but a big personality in every other sense. Having been promoted to corporal, he had a long war. He trained in Catterick in 1940 before being deployed to North Africa in Libya and Egypt. They were part of the 1st armoured brigade. He was then part of the invasion of Italy departing from Sousse in Tunisia in 1944. After almost two very difficult years in Italy he ended his war and celebrated VE and VJ day based in Austria.
During all of this time he left at home in Hessle Road Hull East Yorkshire his wife Renee, his eldest son Frank and his two younger daughters Irene and Anita. They had a difficult time as Hull was very heavily bombed during the blitz. Their street was close to the docks so the were frequently hit, and air raids meant no school the next day. Young Frank aged 7 loved to look for bomb fragments in the rubble following a raid. He really missed his dad and the telegrams sent home meant the world to him. Likewise the family sent back photos of all of them to keep the dads spirits up. There are a few photos and letters. Frank tries to give some guidance and encouragement to his young son.
One telegram in particular captures all of Corporal Frank Pilsworth with all of the NCOs in their mess in Austria which must have been a day of real mixed feelings of relief and reflection of comrades who had fallen. Frank senior returned home safely to his family home and went back to his old job as a foreman on the hull docks. He was a born leader. He and his wife Rene were to celebrate the birth of their new daughter Sylvia year or so later which completed their family.
