The letter was written by my grandmother, Janet Thornton and sent to her two daughters Renee (16) and Pip (14) (my mother and aunt respectively). My grandmother and grandfather were staying at the Rosemullion Hotel, Budleigh Salterton, S Devon and my mother and aunt were in Sherborne, W Dorset. The family actually lived in North London.
The letter refers to my uncles, Douglas and Ken and Colin (the dog).
My grandmother writes on the fourth page:
“Make no mistake – this is the most important day of your life & of the world”
I discovered the letter when helping my mother ‘tidy up’ her house in 2018 – she passed away on 5th November 2019
Unfortunately my uncle Ken died within six months of the end of the war when the undercarriage of his Mosquito collapsed on landing as he was returning from a ‘routine training flight’ – the other member of the aircrew survived.
My mother wrote this poem in 1946:
Ken
And so Ken died,
One starry morning clear and bright
He lay amid the wreckage of his plane
Before the world was even light.
Then moving to and fro
Hovering figures could be seen,
They carried him out
But t’was too late to intervene,
His life had ended there and then
And so ‘farewell’ to one of the bravest of men.
And yet we could not mourn
Although our loss was great,
We could not be angry
And take arms against that cruel fate.
We took his life and set it up
A standard which to live by
Although we could not understand
Why God should have him die.
He was so gentle, brave and strong,
So very much alive,
And so for him and all the men
Who gave their lives, we strive
To make a better world
Where hatred, wars and fighting cease,
Where love and truth and beauty grow
And all God’s people live in peace
Renee Thornton
January 1946 (Aged 17)
