Postcards from the Front come to light in Ludlow
Postcards from the Western Front, sent by a soldier to his fiancee, have come to light as part of a call for World War One stories and artefacts in a Shropshire town.
A search for memorabilia from both world wars, to go on display in Ludlow, is paying off as residents have got in touch with postcards, pictures and magazines from the war years.
Sisters Margaret Edwards and Jean Parker, who run Poyner's clothes shop in the town, are getting together two displays, planned to be shown this summer – one at Ludlow Library to mark the centenary of World War One, and one at the Royal British Legion Club on Mill Street marking the 70th anniversary of D-Day.
Retired civil servant and lifelong Ludlow resident Phillip Sadler has got in touch with the sisters to share items passed down from his father and grandfather.
Among them are silk-embroidered postcards sent by Mr Sadler's grandfather Charles William Jackson, of the 1st King's Shropshire Light Infantry, to his then-fiancee, Mr Sadler's grandmother Florence.
Many of the messages are very brief, but a few have longer sentiments. One reads: "Dearest sweetheart, just a New Year card to wish you a happy New Year. 'May it be happy and your path always be bright' is my earnest wish as my heart is with you always and forever. Fondest love, Will."
Mr Sadler, 70, said: "These are what grandad would send from the front just to let her know he was still alive," he said. "Though I don't think they were allowed to say much."
He said he knew very little about his grandfather, who was a postman in Ludlow, as he had died aged 40 when his mother Phyllis was only 10. He did not know exactly where the cards were sent from, but the 1st Battalion of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry were involved with most of the major conflicts on the Western Front during the war.
He also has pictures of his father, Douglas Frederick John Sadler, who served in Burma in the Royal Army Service Corps in World War Two. He returned to work as a baker at East Hamlet, Ludlow, before working for Midland Red bus company. He died aged 58 in 1977.
Also going on display will be three Luldow parish magazines, from 1933, 1941 and 1944, for an insight into life in the town during the World War Two and in the run up to it.
Miss Edwards and Mrs Parker are urging more people to come forward with information and items from the war years, whether about the men who served or life at home.
They hope their displays will help raise money to have the names of servicemen lost in both wars put on the town's war memorial.The names appear on a memorial at St Laurence's Church, but the monument in Castle Square has none.
