Uncle Harry's Christmas Meal - France 1939: Sepia Saturday

In 2011,  I posted the story of my uncle's wartime Christmas meal.  It is a powerful and poignant tale.  that I feel is worth repeating, with additional images   for this week's Sepia Saturday prompt.  

Harry Rawcliffe  Danson (1912-2001) was the middle child of five, born to my grandparents William Danson and Alice English in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire. His middle name came from his grandmother Maria Danson, nee Rawcliffe.  

 

This signed menu of December 25th 1939,   written in French and typed on very  flimsy paper,  was found among Harry's papers following his death. 

In 1939, Harry was in France with the British Expeditionary Force, 9/17th Field Battery.  In the Sergeant's Mess,  breakfast was cold ham with piccalilli, eggs, coffee and roll and butter;  for dinner  - turkey with chestnuts, pork with apple sauce, potatoes, and cauliflower followed by Christmas pudding, apples, oranges, and nuts, with cognac, rum and beer.  That strikes me now as quite a feast, given the conditions they must have been living in - and a tribute to the catering corps.

Five months later in May 1940.  Harry was one of the many men trapped by the German army on the beaches of northern France. 338,226 soldiers  were evacuated  by a hastily assembled fleet of over 800 boats.  Many of the troops  had to wade out into the sea,  waiting for hours in shoulder-deep water. Some were ferried from the beaches to the larger ships by what came to be known as "the little ships of Dunkirk" - a flotilla   of hundreds of merchant shipping,   small boats, fishing boats, pleasure craft, and lifeboats.  called into service for the emergency.

The British Expeditionary Force had to abandon their tanks, vehicles, and other equipment, and lost 68,000 soldiers during the French campaign.    

How many of those men who signed Harry's Christmas Day menu might well have perished in that operation?

 

Harry far left back row with army colleagues.

 

My mother related how  Harry arrived back home from Dunkirk   still wearing the uniform in which he entered the sea to be rescued.   Harry  never talked about his wartime experiences, but seeing commemoration services or documentaries on TV could bring tears to his eyes, so the memories remained very strong - and that flimsy bit of signed paper, kept for over 60 years, was a potent symbol of his Christmas Day, 1939.

 ****************

 

 

           

 

    

           

Harry later served in Africa and Italy. 

 

 

************

Harry followed his grandfather into becoming a joiner.  I   remember him making me a miniature table and chairs for my doll's house.  

 

He returned to his joinery trade after the war.  He  had a short lived marriage in the 1940's and never remarried, but continued to live in the home of his childhood, renovating the house, and taking pride in his productive garden

 

i recall him taking his sister out for a Sunday run in his motor cycle and side car.    He then progressed to a car, extending  the driveway, and  turning the former hen house into a garage. 

 

 

 The Danson family home in the 1950s  

 

Harry  lived  to the age of 89.  remaining active to the end of his life.  He sailed a small dinghy off the coast of nearby Fleetwood,  was a keen photographer setting up a dark room in the small spare bedroom. 

Living near Blackpool,  the natural home of ballroom dancing in the UK, Harry enjoyed a lot of time on the dance floor at  the Winter Gardens or on the Tower Ballroom  - and he was never short of partners.  He  retained his good looks to the end of his life !

 With a good friend, neighbour & dance partner, c.1970's. 

************

 

Sepia Saturday gives an opportunity for genealogy bloggers 
to share their family history through photographs.

 

 Click HERE to read memories of Christmas meals 

from other bloggers.

 Copyright © 2024 · Susan Donaldson.  All Rights Reserved