Yours Always

My brother and I were aware of the existence of our parents' letters as they had for many years been stored in a well used damp garage. Upon our parents death the family papers were entrusted to Dennis' care and upon investigating a small old cardboard suitcase held together by a dilapidated pair of tights these letters and cables were found; the photographs being in a family album were better protected and survived also. Having fond memories of the years we spent in Australia during the war, I read the letters and found that they told the personal story of a family separated by war. When you read them you are in effect looking over the shoulder of George and Vi as they write, these are their words, nothing has been left out but I would advise that as a result of wartime censorship the contents of ones letters had to be restricted.If George or Vi's comments offend anybody then let me apologize in advance. However, as most of the main characters have probably died I don't think anybody will take exception. William Henry (George) was born to William and Emily Carlton at 22 Burdett Chambers, Burdett Street, near what is now the Imperial War Museum in London on the 4th of February 1906. At about the age of seven, he had to walk to Covent Garden in the early hours of the morning to wash vegetables for which he was rewarded by being given a breakfast of kippers and a pint of beer before going off to school. By the age of twelve he had graduated to driving a horse and cart delivering bread. William joined the Royal Army Medical Corp as a boy bugler in 1921 and so to man service as a clerk in 1924 where he gained the nickname of George. During his service in Egypt he met Ellen Violet(Vi) the eldest daughter of Warrant Officer and Mrs Mann. They married in England in 1932, and had two sons, Richard and Dennis. George and his family were posted to Singapore in 1938 where he was commissioned as a Lieutenant (Quarter Master), in December 1941. As a resul