6th November 2017

I am unrelated to Second Lieutenant Wilfred Johnson but a few years ago my husband and I were in the Antiques Centre in Exeter Old Docks. Whist waiting for my husband I was near a stall selling old postcards and to pass the time I started looking for  postcards of my home town of Southampton and found one of Southampton Common that looked interesting.

When I turned it over to read the back I saw it was from a soldier, Wilfred Johnson to his sister, written while he was camped on Southampton Common and on it he described how his regiment were about to assemble before marching down to Southampton Docks to embark for France. He mentions that they would be taken by transport to Rouen and then marching from there. The postmark is dated August 1915.

I would love to be able to return this postcard to a proven member of his family, but until then  I will keep his postcard to his sister and continue to think of him and one of my great uncles who was killed at Passchendaele 100 years ago today.

Legion Supporter