I have a collection of letters ( with envelopes) from Capt Wilfrid Holmes Stapleford (my father-in-law) to his mother Emma Stapleford in Derby. They date from Dec 1944 to September 1945. Wilf was stationed in Berlin. In a letter dated 27th April 1945 he describes the chaos in a D.P camp near the Weser – the large numbers of desperate people, the lack of supplies, language difficulties, lack of facilities.
Disease was rife in Berlin – the infra structure had been destroyed – no water, no sanitation. Capt Stapleford died of diptheria in Berlin in October 1945, leaving a young wife and a 16 month old son. He is buried in CWG Berlin.
They were given to me by Wilf’s younger brother Gp Captain Peter Stapleford RAF.
October 1989 saw the fall of the Berlin Wall. Born and brought up in East Germany a teenage girl had one ambition – to perform classical music. In the late 1990’s she spent a year studying music in Leeds. My younger son was an undergraduate at Leeds College of Music. They married in Fredersdorf in the former GDR in 2002 and and my late husband and I have two wonderful grandchildren (now 24 and 20). Their Great Grandfather Wilf would have been pleased with their love of music – he was a talented musician – and leader of a well known dance band in Derby in the 1930’s .
