This letter was written by my father, Capt. George Carmichael, to my mother, Beryl Sutton, before they were married. My father served with The Green Howards, and met my mother, who was in the A.T.S, when he was stationed in Somerset before being sent to fight. In the letter, he tells of his great sadness on the loss of two men who were drowned whilst swimming. They were in the desert near Gazala, and had gone for a swim in the sea, because they were living in dugouts, and they had no water to wash with. My father wished he could have been with them because he was a strong swimmer, and might have saved them. After this accident, the men were no longer allowed to swim in the sea.
My mother gave me a number of these letters a few years ago. I chose this one, because it shows that men didn’t just die in all the fighting, but also in tragic accidents. My father was at Dunkirk, and fought right through the War to D Day and beyond.
