War Correspondence of Private Tom Bruce

<p dir="ltr">My father, Tom Bruce, was born in Anfield Liverpool, was with the King's Liverpool Regiment and was stationed in India from 1944 to 1946. In order to keep up the spirits of the soldiers abroad, civilians were asked to write to them sharing news from home. </p><p>Tom received pen pal letters from a young lady named Edith Stanton, also from Liverpool, who would eventually become his wife. The letter I have included is the very first one she sent to him which gives some details of everyday life back home in Liverpool during the war. She had been "doing her bit" working in a munitions factory on the outskirts of Liverpool - a hazardous job with a high risk of explosions before returning to her normal job in a tobacco factory at the end of the war. I have also included two letters that my dad received from his older brother, Stan, a newly released Japanese Prisoner of War. </p><p>Stan had been captured at Sumatra in 1942 and had been forced to work on the Death Railway in Burma where thousands died of sickness, malnutrition and exhaustion. Stan wrote a letter to my dad on 27 September 1945, explaining that he was in Bombay (Mumbai) and was being flown home at the end of the month. </p><p>In October of the same year, after he had returned home, Stan and his wife, Emily, wrote again to my dad, who was still in India, describing Stan's happy reunion with his family. The tone of these letters is one of extreme joy and thankfulness. Their sense of relief that Stan was finally free is abundantly clear. The letters outline everyday stories of domestic life, family love and happiness during the war and are amongst the most precious items handed down from my father to me and my family.</p>