Genealogy Chat

Has anyone heard anything? I see the item has had about 60 'hits' in the last 24 hours. I wish they were mine too! Angela

I'm afraid this sort of thing happens all too regularly. My friend bought a cardbox box of letters at a local auction, a couple of years ago. They are all the letters received by a WW2 officer, who was serving in North Africa and was then taken prisoner and interned in Italy and then Germany. The bulk of the letters are from his fiancee, but there seems to have been no subsequent marriage after his liberation. The letters are in a terrible state, showing how precious they must have been to him, yet following his death in the late 1990's, they were just shoved in a box and sent to the local auction house. They make fascinating reading, but we only have one half of the story and despite all our efforts, we have been unable to find out what happened to the fiancee, her sister or the sister's two children. We are busy transcribing them at the moment and are considering where to place them when we have finished. We would give our eye teeth to have something like this, but others just bundle them up and get rid of them to make a few pounds. Jay

What an amazing collection. I've sent an e-mail to the Imperial War Museum. Janice

maybe its the family that are selling them, not everyone want to keep letters from the past.

It must be a quirk of the settings on this browser - I got there (at last) with a different one. You're right - it would be tragic if it disapeared into an irrelevant collector's hands (or worse, a skip) - fine to the family/ies involved or to an archive. I've just e-mailed the RAF Museum at Hendon. The relevant officials won't be in until Monday, I gather, but I thought they ought to be aware of it. Christine

just had a look. oh how fanstatic would it be to have all those, in your records... Should be donated to Kew.... Pat

What a wonderful collection, I hope they find there way back to their rightful owners, or a least go to someone that apprectiates the rare-ness of such a find. Wish they were mine! Lib:))

Yep they are still on there.

Christine, Just this second check, and you can can still view the itmes Kim

EBay must just have done that Christine as I looked at the items at about 9.15pm.

I tried to look at the item just now, using the number, and got this message: Dear User: Unfortunately, access to this particular category or item has been blocked due to legal restrictions in your home country. Based on our discussions with concerned government agencies and eBay community members, we have taken these steps to reduce the chance of inappropriate items being displayed. Regrettably, in some cases this policy may prevent users from accessing items that do not violate the law. At this time, we are working on less restrictive alternatives. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause you, and we hope you may find other items of interest on eBay. Thank You.

Really wish someone could find a rellie for these cards, they need to 'Go Home'. 4 weeks ago I recieved 53 cards that my grandfather had written, from 1906 into the 2nd WW, while serving in the forces, to his sister and my nan, also 7 cards written by the grandfather of someone else on this site (his dad had never seen his fathers handwrting before and he's over 70!), too emotional for us all to put into words. I have had to send them back to Athen's, Greece, where they are held in an album, but they are priceless, had to copy and now burnt onto CD. These things are so irreplaceable, if it wasn't for another member on this site contacting me I would never have known these cards ever existed, considering they were in Athen's. Kim :-))))

How sad, I bet these two people never ever imagined their hopes and thoughts would become the subject of an auction. How could the family have parted with such treasures. Sue

Probably from a house clearance. Sad, I agree.

On e-bay ...item no - 6578311194 So sad not with the family :( Sarah :)