Roamer: Poignant wartime card from a child’s uncle in a Prisoner of War camp

Both world wars are referenced in some wonderful stories shared here today by Bushmills artist, author and regular Roamer-contributor, Brian Willis.

The rest of the page is Brian’s.

My house is a treasure-trove of artefacts and/or junk and I’ve recently rediscovered a postcard sent to me by my Uncle Eric whilst he was a Prisoner of War in 1944.

His reference to my ‘bailing out’ was because I had fallen from the top of the Anderson Air-raid Shelter at the bottom of our garden whilst I was looking over a metal fence.

I cut my hands badly across the inside of my palms on the edge of the corrugated fence and presumably my parents had mentioned this accident when they were writing to him.

There’s also a reference in the card to a phono fiddle.

This was a homemade single-stringed instrument played with a bow and using a gramophone pickup, with a horn attached, to amplify the sound.

Dad made one of these for my mother.

It was supposed to be played like a cello, held between the knees. However mum, who played the violin, held the phono fiddle under her chin like her violin.

And it was too long for her to reach the farthest end of the string, so she used to jam it against the wall for support!

Presumably they had told Eric about mum’s phono fiddle - apparently some of his comrades in the POW camp had made them too.

Eric was a navigator in Wellington bombers during WWII.

He was flying over occupied Holland when his plane was hit by enemy gunfire. The aircraft caught fire. The crew scrambled for their parachutes, which were stored in a row.

In the chaos, someone pulled the ripcord of one of the chutes and it deployed inside the aircraft.

The other airmen put their parachutes on and jumped out, leaving Uncle Eric with the open one.

He strapped on the harness, bundled up the parachute in his arms, and jumped out!

He woke up in agony in a Dutch field.

The sudden jolt of the chute unfolding had broken his back. He was found by a Dutch family who looked after him - I don't know for how long - until a German patrol discovered him and took him to hospital.

He stayed there until his back improved and was then moved to a POW camp.

After the war, he often returned to Holland where he was rescued to thank the family who looked after him.

His postcard is difficult to read so here is a transcription:

“Dear Brian, a short note from your old uncle to let you know he’s doing OK. I hope you are looking after Mum now that Dad is away and being a good boy.

"I hear you have been doing some bailing out. Don’t make a habit of it, take it from me there’s no future in it.

"Tell Dad I’ll be along to collect my lighter soon (I hope) but not until I hear the phono fiddle has been busted.

"I’ve heard enough guys hear (sic) learning Phonos to last me all my time. So long. Eric xxxx”

And here’s a First World War story to accompany Uncle Eric’s Second World War card!

When my Mother-in-law died, I flew over to sort out her things - she lived in England.

I brought back a lot of items including what I thought was my wife Angela’s toy typewriter.

“That’s not mine” declared Angela, and true enough, it was more solid than a toy.

It had letters on a metal disc which you pressed to print each character and there were two small metal hoops in which you put your fingers to hold it. Strange.

After considerable research (it is not even on Google!) it turned out to be a First World War machine used by horse-riding messengers to type and carry notes between posts.

All became clear when we recalled a photo of the late father-in-law, in army uniform, sitting astride his horse.

Apparently, the machine is very rare.

It, and Uncle Eric’s card, will be on display at the ‘Bushmills Through the Wars’ exhibition in the Dunluce Parish Centre, Bushmills, from Friday, July 11, until Monday, July 21.