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Saturday 6 November 2010

William Danson - Postcards from Flanders



My grandparents
William Danson
& Alice English

Postcards from Flanders, sent by my grandfather William Danson to his family back home, are the most prized items in my collection of family memorabilia.  They  were kept in a shoebox in the cupboard by the fire in my grandfather's house and it was a treat as a child to be allowed to look through them.  They are made more poignant by the pencilled messages from William to his wife Alice and children Edith, Kathleen, Harry and baby Billy.

Alice with Edith, Kathleen,
Harry & baby Billy c.1916

Grandad was a labourer, he never spoke about the war and would never have put into words the sentiments expressed (in French) in the cards he sent to his wife Alice.


     
  Dear Alice, Just a line to let you know I am in the pink and hope all at home are the same. 
There is nothing that I want.  
I will write again shortly.   Your loving Billy

                            


                                                                   
Dear Edith  I hope you like this card.
.  I am in the pink,  Look after mother and baby.
From your Dad.
 


William had joined the King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment and was awarded the Military Medal for "conspicuous gallantry and determined devotion to duty in action at Givency on 9th April 1918" during the Battle of Passchendaele.





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